What Would You Do?
by helloagain
Summary: After Brooke's attack and all her friends dealing with their own problems, who will be able to help her?
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Ok, so this takes place a few days after Brooke's attack. I've changed some things to fit the purpose of the story so if the timing seems a bit off, that's why. **

**Summary: After her attack, Brooke feels cold and empty. Her friends all have their own problems to do with and haven't really taken the time to see if she's ok. Enter Rachel. Will they be able to mend their friendship after everything that has happened and, more importantly, will she be able bring the old Brooke back?**

Chapter 1

Brooke looked at herself in the mirror and hated what she saw. Not just because of the dark bruises covering her face, but because she had let it happen. She didn't know when she had gotten so careless about things. The girl looking back at her was not the same girl from four years ago. This girl was jaded and cold.

Despite knowing she had let herself go, Brooke didn't care to change. She couldn't feel anything except the numbness that had crept over her after the attack, but, if she was honest with herself, that numbness had starting creeping up before that night.

It had been three days now and the bruises had yet to fade. If anything, they had actually gotten worse. The little make-up she could apply did little to conceal anything so she didn't even bother. Brooke let her eyes travel down from her face across the rest of her body. She had bruises everywhere. They were on her neck, arms, stomach, back, and legs. How Peyton believed she actually fell down the stairs, she didn't know. Maybe she didn't believe that but didn't want to say anything about it. It didn't really matter to Brooke either way.

After one more quick glance, she finished getting ready. Even though she had no plans of leaving the house today, it didn't mean that she was just going to lay around and pout. Once she had finished getting dressed, she walked out of the room and into the kitchen to start making herself something to eat.

Before she could get the bread out to make a sandwich, there was a knock at the door. Startled and not quite sure what to do, Brooke slowly made her way over to the front door.

"Who is it?" She asked after a moments hesitation.

"Rachel," came the response from the other side of the door.

Brooke wasn't expecting that. She was expecting anyone to be waiting outside, anyone but Rachel. What could she want, anyway? She had already stolen the brunette's money.

Deciding that she should let the girl in so that she could get an explanation, Brooke opened the door and stood there staring at her once best friend. She had to admit, though, the redhead did look good. It appeared as though the girl had put on some weight, which was a good thing considering she had looked like she was letting herself go the few days she was in Tree Hill before.

"Come back for more money?" Brooke asked with more than a slight edge to her tone. She had yet to step aside to let the other girl in, either.

"What?" And what happened to you?" the redhead answered with a look of concern on her face. She took a step towards Brooke but quickly stopped her movement when the girl backed away from her.

Brooke turned away from Rachel and walked further into the room to sit on the couch. She glanced back towards the door and gave a look that told the other girl to do the same. Once Rachel was sitting on the couch next to her, Brooke started talking, "They money Peyton paid back. It suddenly goes missing around the same time you do. Funny, huh?"

Rachel wore a hurt expression but quickly looked away, trying to mask the hurt the brunette obviously caused. "Look, Brooke, I don't know anything about that. All I know is what your mom said to me and it made me realize something about myself."

After not receiving a response, Rachel continued, "I honestly don't know what happened to that money, but, Brooke, I'd never steal from you like that."

Brooke just looked at the girl and let her words wash over her. It had been weeks since she had seen her and, to be honest, she had missed her friend. Sure, living with Peyton was fun but Rachel had always been different and she missed that. Seeing her now and how honest she looked, Brooke believed her.

"I don't know what happened to it, then. I just...you know you can always ask if you need something, right?"

Rachel just smiled and nodded, but the smile was quickly gone as she took in the bruises on the brunette's face, again. "You never answered me. What happened to you?"

"I was doing laundry and got tangled up in some clothes. Lets just say that the fall was very long and very painful."

"Brooke, I'm a drug addict. I could lie about anything and I've seen plenty of other people do the same. Now tell me what really happened."

"I told, I fell. Now you tell me what you're doing back in Tree Hill and where you ran off to this time."

Rachel let out a soft chuckle before shaking her head and standing up from the couch. She grabbed Brooke by the hand and led her by the hand back to the bedroom.

"I'll tell you all that some other time. If you're not going to tell me what happened, at least let me cover it up for you."

Brooke let herself be pushed down onto the bed while the redhead went into the bathroom to what she needed. When she returned, she knelt down in front of Brooke and tucked a stray piece of hair back behind her ear. The touch caused Brooke to flinch ever so slightly but just enough to be caught by Rachel. She ignored it, though, and went about her business of applying the make-up much the same way Deb had done just a couple of days before. The only difference was that Rachel was more gentle, if that could even be possible.

After a few minutes of work, Rachel stood back up and smiled down at the other girl. The bruises could still be seen but they weren't as pronounced. It made the redhead feel better because she hated how beat and worn the girl had looked when she opened the door.

She bent over just enough to press her lips to Brooke's forehead. Before standing back up, she lifted the girl's head and asked, "What would you do without me?"


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Thank you for the reviews. I haven't decided how long I want this to be but I do have some ideas that I want to play out. For those of you wondering why Rachel doesn't pressure Brooke into telling her what really happened, don't worry, it's coming. I hope you enjoy, let me know. **

Chapter Two

Rachel had been in Tree Hill for a week and Brooke still didn't know where she had been those weeks she went missing. The redhead refused to open up about the time she was gone because she was too focused on Brooke.

Anytime the brunette tried asking, Rachel would just brush the subject off by telling her they could talk about it some other time. All she cared about was that Brooke healed from her "fall".

She had seen some of the bruises that covered Brooke's arms and legs but had yet to see the full extent of the injuries. Brooke knew that if Rachel saw them, she'd be even more worried and her story of falling down the stairs would be even more weak. Rachel not seeing the bruises, however, wouldn't last long.

* * *

As Brooke climbed out of the shower and wrapped a towel around her body, she walked over to the mirror and wiped it clean. The bruises didn't appear to be healing any, and it disgusted her even more. She couldn't even look at herself anymore, the thought of how she looked killed her. She had no idea how Rachel could even stand looking at her everyday.

But Rachel could stand it and had been staying with Brooke since she arrived in town. Brooke thought it would be weird with her staying there, at first, but she had to admit that she felt safer with the other girl around.

None of her other friends had been by, not even to ask why the Clothes Over Bros shop was closed. Since none of them had been by, none of them knew Rachel was in town. They had just been holed up in Brooke's house, eating junk food and watching cheesy 80s movies. It was the most fun Brooke had had in a long time.

Even though Peyton hadn't been by, she had called and set up a lunch date. That's what Brooke was getting ready for now. She didn't particularly want to go but knew she owed it to her friend to spend time with her.

She had just gotten her shirt over her head, after throwing her, still wet, hair up into a messy ponytail, and was buttoning her jeans when Rachel walked into her room without knocking.

"Rachel! Could you knock please? I could have been naked in here," Brooke exclaimed after clumsily getting her jeans buttoned.

"Nothing I've never seen before," the redhead answered with a wink, hinting back to senior year at the cabin. "At least you weren't Brooking yourself this time."

The statement caused Brooke to blush and look down, a small smile displayed across her face. The events leading up to the trip to the cabin had been difficult to go through but, somehow, the group had gotten through it together. Brooke didn't know when that had changed, when everyone was solely focused on their own problems.

"Don't act like you didn't enjoy it, bitch," Brooke finally countered after the blush disappeared from her face.

"Never said I didn't, slut," Rachel responded, raising her eyebrows and displaying a cocky smirk.

Brooke could feel the blush starting to creep back up but forced herself to push it back down, "Anyway, what was so important that you couldn't wait for me to be finished?"

"While you're out on your date, I'm gonna head to the store. You're in serious need of some food in this place."

The brunette chuckled, slipped some shoes onto her feet and started heading out of her room, "You know, I wouldn't have that problem if little miss likes to eat didn't drain me out of everything I had."

"Hey, it's either me mooching off of you and becoming a fat-ass or me getting high every chance I get. Pick your poison," Rachel responded as she followed Brooke out into the main part of the house.

"Then I pick you becoming fat with me," a sincere smile crossed Brooke's face. She wanted the other girl to know that she didn't have to go down that road again.

It worked because Rachel returned the smile, just as sincere as the one she had just received, but it didn't last as she changed the subject, "You seem to be in a better mood today."

"I am, thank you," Brooke's normally raspy voice became just a bit raspier as she looked down and softly spoke the words. After a quick, reassuring, squeeze of the arm from Rachel, she looked back up and continued to talk, "I look like hell, though."

"Oh, whatever. You look hot. You always look hot. Even a set of stairs can't change that," she emphasized the word stairs, indicating she still didn't believe the story.

Brooke just laughed and thanked the girl for the complement. She needed to get away before she actually confided in her what really happened. She grabbed her keys and walked out the house with Rachel in tow.

With one last smile, they each headed off to do their own thing.

* * *

Rachel made it to the store fairly quickly. Considering the size of the town, it wasn't that surprising, but it was nice not having to stop at any of the lights. She couldn't believe how lucky that had been. It must have been the universe's way of telling her that the luck couldn't last long because there placing an apple into the little fruit bags, was Haley.

She tried to turn the corner to the next aisle quickly so that the other girl wouldn't see her. Even though they came to terms, somewhat, that last night of summer, they still weren't each other's biggest fans. Her escape plan failed, however, when Haley lifted her head just in time to see Rachel making a run for it.

"Damnit," Rachel whispered, knowing she had been caught. Hoping Haley would just look away and go about her shopping, she was disappointed when it didn't happen.

"Rachel," she said as she pushed her basket over to where the redhead stood with hers, "What are you doing back in town?"

"Oh, you know, catching up with old friends. I really missed Tree Hill."

"That's funny," Haley laughed, "I wasn't aware you still had friends. You can't be talking about Brooke since you used her and stole from her."

Rachel was clearly nervous. It was all she could do to stop from fidgeting so much. She didn't want Haley to know she was having any impact on her. It wasn't working.

"Look, Haley, I know we've had our share of problems in the past, but, to be honest, I don't give a damn what you think of me. I'm here to make things better with Brooke and to be here for her, something none of her other "friends" seem to be capable of. And, just to be clear, whatever you think you know about my last stay here, it's wrong."

She didn't wait for a response because she knew it would just lead to more fighting, so she just turned back to her basket and tried to finish up her shopping. Haley, on the other hand, was shocked. She had never heard Rachel give a speech like that. When it came to the girl, Haley didn't think much of her, just a loose girl who only cared about her needs.

Something had changed.

* * *

Meanwhile, across town, at a small cafe close to the water, Peyton and Brooke were trying to enjoy their lunch together.

"Your eyes look better," the blonde commented after noticing how many people had been staring at the other girl, something Brooke had noticed almost immediately.

"Thanks," was all she said, refusing to look up from her salad.

"Lucas said it would be alright if I stayed with you for a little while. You know, until you get everything figured out with the store."

Brooke finally looked up and forced a smile to stretch across her face. She hated how it sounded like Peyton needed permission. That probably wasn't the case but sometimes Peyton was a little clueless. "No, that's ok. I'm taking care of things."

The fact that she hadn't told her friend about Rachel being back in town was a little bothersome, but she knew once the words left her mouth, Peyton would find a way of keeping the redhead away from her. It wasn't something she needed right now, not when she was just starting to feel like a person again.

The rest of lunch was spent in awkward silence as neither girl knew what to talk about. Peyton didn't want to pressure Brooke into talking about her injuries and Brooke didn't want to talk to Peyton about her engagement to Lucas. The fact was, she really didn't care at the moment. She was glad they were happy, sure, but how could she be happy for someone else when she couldn't even be happy for herself?

* * *

Brooke plopped herself down on the couch next to Rachel and let out a sigh. Lunch had been everything she expected, awkward and humiliating. The people never got tired of looking over at their table, hoping to get a better look at her face.

"That bad, huh?" Rachel asked as she flipped through a magazine.

"People wouldn't stop staring at me. I told you I looked horrible."

Rachel closed the magazine and tossed it onto the coffee table in front of them, "Then let them stare and screw what they think. You just want to hide out here for another week or two so that people don't look at you?"

"It's embarrassing, Rachel. I can't handle the looks and the whispers. You wouldn't understand."

"We're going out, I'll be right back," and before Brooke could protest, Rachel was already walking out of the room.

For what seemed like an eternity but, in reality, was only 30 minutes, Brooke waited for Rachel to finish whatever she was doing so she could tell her she wouldn't be going out. But when the other girl walked back into the main room, what she saw was a surprise.

Rachel had spent the half hour applying make-up around her eyes, and Brooke wasn't sure how the girl had pulled it off, but it looked like she had actual black eyes.

After noticing the shocked and confused look Brooke was giving her, Rachel laughed and explained, "Being a drug addict you have to learn how to hide things. Combine that with the fact that I was model, I learned a few things about make-up. Now people won't be staring at you, they'll be staring at both of us."

"You want me to go out that bad?" Brooke asked amazed. Rachel never seized to surprise her with how much she was willing to do for someone else.

"I want you to have fun. This past week has been great and I needed it but I hate the fact that you're scared of going out because of other people. You've smiled more today than you have any of the other days combined, so screw me that I want to see you smile some more."

There were no words to express how Brooke felt at that moment. This girl went above and beyond just to get a smile, all she could do was walk over and give her a hug. It didn't seem like enough, but, apparently, Rachel thought that it was.

After pulling away, she smiled and started pulling Brooke towards the door, "If anyone asks what happened, we'll just tell them they should see the stairs."


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Thanks again for the reviews. That's probably going to get a little repetitive but I do appreciate them. I hope you continue to enjoy. **

Chapter Three

The girls had spent the rest of the day around town, not really doing much but enjoying the day out. To say that their appearance caught the eyes of the people around them would have been an understatement, people couldn't take their eyes off of them. Rachel didn't mind, but she knew that Brooke was probably having a hard time with it.

Although, people were staring, no had come up to them yet. For the most part, Rachel was glad, but another part of her wished they would have so she could give them a smart-ass answer.

Not wanting the night to end, she suggested that her and Brooke go out and have drinks later in the evening. That's where they were just getting back from, more than a little tipsy. It may not have been the best idea to get the brunette drunk since she was obviously going through something, but Rachel never did things the traditional way.

Despite it not being the best idea, Brooke did have fun. It was the first time all week she let herself go and enjoy herself. No one bothered them, considering it looked like they had just beat the hell out of each other, which was fine with the both of them because it meant they could have the night to themselves.

Stumbling through the front door, Rachel let out a laugh as Brooke tried to finish her story of the time she had been waiting in Lucas' back seat, naked. Most of what she said didn't make any sense, but the fact that Brooke was laughing made the story great.

"And then you did it," the end of her rambling was much more clear as she turned and faced the redhead with a serious look on her face.

"Imitation is the highest form of flattery, Brooke. Now let me help you get to bed. You can hardly stand on your own."

It wasn't an exaggeration, Brooke was swaying from side to side and occasionally braced herself against the wall to keep from falling over. Before she could protest, Rachel walked over and grabbed hold of her hand and went through the difficult task of getting the girl up the stairs and into her bedroom.

Once the girls made it to the bedroom, Brooke collapsed onto her bed, content with sleeping in the clothes she was wearing. Rachel was just going to leave her but figured she would be uncomfortable if, by chance, she were to wake up.

"Get up, drunk ass, you need to change."

What came out of Brooke's mouth was hard to understand, it was more like a gurgled groan. Rachel just reached down and pulled the girl into a seated position, ignoring the moans of protest.

"Rachel, I'm fine. I just want to sleep," Brooke complained to the redhead's retreating back as she walked over to the closet to grab some more comfortable clothes.

Just when Brooke was about to complain again, a t-shirt and a pair of shorts came flying across the room and hit her in the face.

"Shut up and put those on, Penelope."

Brooke rolled her eyes and let out one last groan as she went about the process of changing her clothes. The jeans were easy enough, all she did was undo them and flail her legs about until they slipped off. Putting on the short had been a little tougher, since she had to lift herself up off the bed a bit, causing her to fall from side to side until her shorts were fully on.

The sight was a funny one to see and, throughout the whole ordeal, Rachel had a smile firmly planted on her face. Although, it was a funny sight, she saw that the bruises went further up the other girl's legs. She wasn't going to bring it up at the moment given Brooke's state of intoxication, instead she stored it away for tomorrow.

The shirt was the most difficult task for the brunette. Somehow, while pulling the garment over her head, it got stuck. It would have been even funnier to see than the trouble with shorts, but as soon as Brooke lifted up the shirt, Rachel's smile was gone.

Brooke's stomach was covered by contusion after contusion, and they appeared to wrap around to her back. Standing there with a shocked look on her face, Rachel was brought out of her almost trance like state by Brooke asking for help.

"As funny as this may be, could you help the drunk girl out?" Brooke asked, her voice muffled by the shirt over her face.

Rachel walked over, knelt down, and helped the girl remove the garment all the way, but instead of helping her put the other one on, she just looked at the girl.

"What happened to you?" she asked as she ran her fingers over one of the many darkened areas that littered Brooke's skin.

It was a combination of a lot of things: Rachel's cool fingers on her skin and the concerned tone in her voice, her drunken state, and the fact that she was tired of keeping it to herself, but Brooke finally gave in and confided in Rachel.

"I was attacked," it was the simplest of statements, but it was the statement the girl most needed to make.

"Who did this?" Rachel had already known the stairs weren't the culprit but also knew she had to wait for Brooke to be ready to tell her.

"I don't know. They were wearing a mask. They just came in, attacked me and stole my design sketches. I'm pretty sure it was my mom."

The redhead didn't know if it was because the girl was drunk, but her thinking it was her mom was a little far fetched, no matter how big a bitch the woman was.

Deciding hat she should get the girl to bed, she finished getting her situated and under the covers. Rachel was happy that she had finally been told the truth but was upset about everything Brooke had been through.

She was even more upset that the girl didn't think she could talk to her. It was something they would need to talk about in the morning when Brooke was a little bit more sober.

Thinking that the brunette was asleep, she gave one last look to the girl laying peacefully on the bed and wondered how anyone could ever hurt her, even thinking back to the days when she, herself, went out of her way to be an ass to the girl. That wouldn't happen anymore and she made a promise to herself to not let anyone else get away with it, either.

As she turned to leave the room, Brooke sat up and caught Rachel off guard with her question, "You're not going to leave me are you?"

"Why would you ask that?" the redhead asked from her spot in the middle of the room.

"You have before."

The statement hurt Rachel, and maybe that's what Brooke was trying to do, but she couldn't tell herself it wasn't the truth. She sighed and mentally kicked herself for letting this conversation happen but she knew she'd have to eventually tell the girl where she had been.

After running her hand through her hair, she walked over to turn off the light and made her way back over to the bed. She climbed on it and laid on top of the covers before turning to speak to the other girl, "I'm not going anywhere. Now go to sleep, drunky."

Brooke smiled and closed her eyes. It didn't take long before she drifted off to sleep, leaving Rachel alone, staring up at the ceiling, with thoughts running through her head.

* * *

The next morning, sun shone through the blinds into the darkened room, waking Brooke for the first time since she had closed her eyes the night before. She let out a groan and covered her eyes to block out the too bright sun. She rolled over onto her side and saw Rachel laying in bed with her.

Sometime during the night the girl had managed to get herself under the covers and had fallen asleep. The night was still hazy for Brooke so it was a bit shocking for her to wake up with the redhead next to her. Taking a deep breath she lifted up the covers and gathered enough courage to take a peek.

They were both still clothed.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Brooke started to get out of bed but then thought better of it when her head started pounding from the previous night's activities. She laid back down and brought a pillow up onto her face to more effectively block out the bright light from outside.

Then, all of a sudden she remembered the night before and what had happened. She had come clean about what had happened to her, even going as far as letting the other girl see the extent of her injuries. Brooke was pissed, no she was livid and let the sleeping form next to her know it by slamming the pillow down on top of her, waking her up.

"What the hell, Brooke?" Rachel cried out, startled from the suddenness of her wake-up call.

"You took advantage of me!" Brooke yelled and brought the pillow down on top of the girl again.

Not wanting to be hit anymore, Rachel yanked the feathery weapon from the girl and threw it across the room, "Quit hitting me! What are you talking about?"

"I remember what happened, you took advantage of me."

"Brooke, trust me, anything that might have happened you were totally on board with," she said and let out a chuckle when the other girl tried to pull out another pillow. Rachel quickly stopped that by grabbing it and throwing it across the room, too.

"I'm serious, Rachel. You know I never would have told you if I had been sober," the brunette complained and got up to pace around the room.

Rachel quickly got up from the bed and placed her hands on the girl's shoulders to stop her movements, "I may not have handled it the best way, but I don't care. You opened up to me and I know that part of you feels better because of that."

When the girl didn't answer or return her gaze, Rachel started to grow worried, thinking that asking her about everything last night might not have been the best idea, "What's the problem, Brooke?"

After finally looking up from the floor, it looked like she was about to break down, "I'm ashamed, ok? Look at me, I look disgusting and I'm the laughing stock of the entire town. I couldn't defend myself and I let someone come in and practically destroy something I worked so hard to create. What's not the problem, Rachel?"

"You. You're not the problem," she answered, squeezing the girl's arms and leading her back over to the bed to sit. "I want to show you something," and she lifted one of the long sleeves of her shirt and showed Brooke her track marks from the all the drugs she had put in her body. "I'm ashamed because I did this to myself. Why do you think I never wear short sleeves? Yeah, they've faded a little but I'm still ashamed and hate myself for what I became. You aren't that girl, Brooke. You're strong but even the strong fall sometimes. Stop hating yourself because of someone else."

Brooke sat there and let the words wash over her as she looked down at the scars lining her friends arm. She reached out to touch one of the marks and was only slightly aware of the girl's sharp intake of breath and flinching.

"Where did you go?"

Rachel knew they would be having this conversation today, and after Brooke finally opened up completely, it wouldn't be fair to keep the truth from her.

"I left to get clean. I couldn't afford to get help and I couldn't ask you for money after everything else you had already for me, so I just left and went to the cabin. I just needed to get clean on my own, to know that I could."

"Rachel, I would've helped. Anything you needed, I would have done for you. I thought you knew that," Brooke responded, almost insulted, but never took her hand off the girl's arm.

"I did, I do, but I hated myself and I hated using you. I'm an addict, you don't need that."

"No, I need you and whatever else comes with the package. I can deal with it. Can you deal with me, though?"

Rachel looked over at the girl, laughed and rolled her eyes, "Oh, yeah, you're so hard to deal with. A successful, smart business woman who happens to be an awesome friend? Who'd want to put up with a bitch like that?"

Brooke let out a laugh of her own, feeling better because of the talk the two had just had, and bumped shoulders with the girl next to her. "Want to check out the store? I haven't been there since you got here."

"Yeah, let me just go get changed," Rachel answered, pulling down her sleeve and standing up to leave the room.

Before she made it through the door, Brooke caught her attention again, "Oh, and no long sleeves today."

* * *

After what seemed like forever, Rachel finally agreed to not cover up her arms and the two had made it to the store after grabbing a quick bite to eat. Brooke unlocked the door and they walked inside, taking in the sight of the store. Set-ups were still thrown about and clothing littered the floor. It was obvious no one had been in to clean anything up.

"Wow," Rachel said as she turned in circles to see the extent of the damage done to the store. "You really think your mom did this?"

"I think she hired someone, yeah. They stole my sketches and that's what she wanted so she could steal my company from me," Brooke answered as she picked up one of the clothes racks and stood it upright.

"Screw her, you'll just come up with better ones."

The brunette smiled at how supporting her friend was trying to be, but the truth was she didn't care anymore, "She can have it. I'm done with all of this."

"Brooke.." but before the redhead could finish her sentence, she was interrupted.

"No. I'm done with it. She can have Clothes Over Bros. I'm starting over, all I want is this store. No more big cities, no more magazines and no more wild nights at red carpet events."

Rachel laughed and shook her head before walking over to the girl and pulling her into a hug, "You're retarded, you know that?"

"I hate you," Brooke smiled, returning the embrace.

"Rachel?" Came a voice from behind them, causing the two girls to fly apart.

There standing in the doorway were Peyton and Haley, looking confused at the scene they had just witnessed. Peyton more-so than Haley, considering she didn't know of Rachel's arrival back into town.

"Hey guys," Brooke greeted, trying to ease the tension that had settled in the room.

"We just got done eating lunch and saw the store was open. When did you get back, Rachel?" Peyton asked and walked further into the shop, Haley following behind.

"Um, about a week ago. I've just been helping Brooke out with some things."

A snicker could be heard escaping Haley's mouth, causing Brooke to glare at her but before she could defend her friend, the teacher spoke up, "Look, I'm sorry but what could you possibly help Brooke with?" As she was speaking she stepped around from behind the blonde to get a better look at the other two girls in the room, letting her notice, for the first time, the girl's arms. "My God, Rachel. Look at your arms. I know you had problems when you were here last, but that is beyond ridiculous," she said pointing at the marks.

Feeling the scrutiny in both of the newcomers' eyes, Rachel folded her arms to hide the scars and looked away, but it did no good as Haley continued to lay into her, "I thought for sure you had changed when I ran into you at the store but you're still the coked out whore you've always been."

"Haley!" Brooke exclaimed, more than pissed with how she was acting.

"She's right, Brooke. I'll see you at the house," and before the brunette had a chance to stop her, Rachel was walking out of the door.

"What gives you the right, Haley?" Brooke asked after watching her friend leave and returning her glare to where the two other girls stood.

"She has a point, Brooke. What is going on with you? Your store is trashed, you look like hell and none of us have really seen you in days. Now all of a sudden Rachel's back, sorry if it's a little hard to handle."

"And if she thinks she's getting anywhere near my son looking like that, she better think again."

"Both of you, shut up," Brooke interrupted, getting more pissed by the second. "Want to know what's going on with me and Rachel? I was attacked, my store was robbed and that's why I look like hell, Peyton. Someone came in here and beat the hell out of me and Rachel has been the ONLY one who has been here for me. She made me leave the house and actually behave like a human instead of wallowing around the house. That's how she's been helping me and now she's probably going to run away again because of you two. Excuse me."

Not caring that she needed to lock up before she left, Brooke walked out the door without giving either of the other two a chance to apologize. She needed to make sure Rachel was ok before she decided to skip town again.

**AN 2: I know the other girls seem like huge bitches, but that won't last for long and I do plan on bringing in a few of the others to round out the story a little more. Thanks again. **


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Thanks again for the reviews. I didn't have time to go back over this and edit any mistakes so it sucks, I'm sorry! The other characters will start to be more involved in the upcoming chapters, I just wanted to get the whole Brachel thing going. I hope you guys continue to enjoy it!**

When Brooke finally made it back to the house, she was happy to see Rachel in the kitchen making a sandwich.

"I thought you would have been gone by now," she said as she made her way into the room and watched as the girl continued to make her food.

"I told you I wasn't going anywhere. Haley and I were never friends and probably never will be," the redhead answered as she cut the sandwich in half.

"So you're staying?" Brooke asked the girl hopefully.

Rachel made her way to a cabinet and grabbed two plates. "Yep," she answered and handed one half of the sandwich to Brooke, causing the girl to laugh.

"We just had lunch, Rach."

"Fine, more for me." But before she could take the plate back, Brooke took the sandwich off the dish and took a bite. "That's what I thought."

"Shut up and eat yours," Brooke smirked through a mouthful of food.

They continued eating in silence and Brooke examined the girl's actions to determine if she was still upset and just trying to hide it. The brunette didn't want to bring any of it up again if she was, in fact, still bothered by what was said. As far as she could tell, though, it was all but forgotten.

"Finished?" Rachel asked, interrupting Brooke's thoughts.

After answering with a nod, the redhead took both plates over to the sink, rinsed them off and placed them in the dishwasher. Without looking in her direction, Rachel turned and left the kitchen to sit on the couch in the living room.

Caught a little off guard, Brooke left the room to follow the other girl, worried that something was wrong.

"Are you ok?" she asked as she sat down next to her friend.

"I knew I shouldn't have worn short sleeves," she answered, looking down at her arms before crossing them over her chest to hide the marks from Brooke's eyes.

Upon seeing this, Brooke grabbed one of the girl's arms and placed it in her lap, "This doesn't bother me, Rachel, and Haley was just caught off guard with everything. I know that doesn't give her the right to say what she did but it doesn't mean you have to go back into hiding."

"It's just something I'm trying to deal with, and it gets a little hard when no one gives me a chance," Rachel answered without removing her hand from Brooke's grasp.

"I'm giving you a chance, and the others will come around. Just give them a little more time."

Rachel just looked at the girl and smiled before glancing down at their still joined hands, "Think I can get that back?"

"Oh, sorry," Brooke blushed as she released her friend's hand.

"Let's go out tonight, try to find you a boy," the redhead stood up and exclaimed, clapping her hands together.

Brooke laughed and rolled her eyes. "I don't need a boy, I've got enough going on right now without having to deal with that."

"Please, there's always more room for dating. We're leaving at eight."

"So we're both going to be looking for someone? That could be fun," Brooke said as she stood up as well.

"Oh, no. I'm way too busy for that. Just you tonight," Rachel replied with a wave a hand and a wink.

Before Brooke could protest, Rachel turned on her heel and left the room.

The truth was, Brooke wasn't that interested in finding a guy, not after everything that had happened during the past few weeks. Even though she wasn't interested, she couldn't deny that it might be fun for the night to just cut loose and have fun, not worrying about the consequences.

She smiled and left to go upstairs to her room. There was still a few hours left until eight, but she knew Rachel would already be getting ready in her room, so she figured it couldn't hurt to get started.

* * *

A few hours later, Brooke was waiting downstairs for Rachel to finally make her appearance. She hadn't seen the girl since she left to go get ready. When she did finally descend the stairs, Brooke wasn't disappointed.

Rachel was wearing tight, low cut jeans and a black tank top. Her hair was slightly curled and just a hint of make-up was applied to her face. It was simple, but it did the job, and Brooke knew that people would be lining up around the block just to get close to the girl. On top of how amazing she looked, Brooke noticed that the girl had also applied make-up to her arms. The track marks were still noticeable but were so faint that they wouldn't be able to be seen in a darkened club.

As for Brooke, she went for a more done up look. Also wearing a black top, her sleeves hanged off her shoulders, covering her biceps and her jeans were just tight enough to where she was still able to function properly.

They both looked hot and Brooke was so glad she decided to go out with the redhead considering the last time they did so they had so much fun.

"Smoking, Brooke. Now let's go find you someone for you to get groiny with," Rachel said as she walked over to Brooke and pulled her out the door.

While being dragged out of the house, Brooke had enough presence of mind to grab her keys and scoffed at the girl, "God, Rach, you make it sound so disgusting."

* * *

Once the two girls made it the club, not too far outside Tree Hill, Rachel immediately went up to the bar and ordered two shots of whatever the bartender recommended. After they each downed the contents from the glass, both grimacing as the burning liquid slid down their throat, they turned their attention to the dance floor.

It was packed with writhing bodies as music pumped from the speakers. Looking over at her friend, Rachel wriggled her eyebrows in a suggestive manner, "Let's go dance, slut."

Letting herself, once again, be pulled off to wherever Rachel wanted her, Brooke let the music flow through her body as they finally came to a stop in the middle of a sweaty crowd.

Grabbing one of Brooke's hands and lifting it above their heads, Rachel slid in closer until their bodies were practically touching. Not paying attention to anyone else around them, Brooke focused solely on the girl in front of her and the music blasting through the air.

After a few songs of uninterrupted dancing, Rachel closed the gaps between their bodies, getting as close as she could to the other girl and spoke into her ear just loud enough for Brooke to hear, "That guy over there has been checking you out for the past 20 minutes."

After letting the sensation of Rachel's breath on her ear fade away, Brooke turned and saw that there was, in fact, a man with his eyes on her.

He was pretty good looking, built, but not to the point Owen had been with sandy blonde hair. He was a clean cut guy and someone who looked perfect for some fun.

"Go over there," Rachel said loudly over the music and gave the girl a slight push in the man's direction.

Brooke walked over to where he was standing, and as she did so, Rachel took off towards the bar and made sure she found a spot where she could still see the two. She ordered another drink and sat back to watch the show. At first everything seemed fine, Brooke seemed to be enjoying herself, laughing at all the right times and flirting just enough, but as the guy got more aggressive, Rachel could see her friend start to tense up.

It was when the blonde guy leaned in for a kiss that Brooke really started to freak out. She pushed him away with both hands, but the guy, not understanding what was going on, still didn't back off, scaring the brunette even more.

It wasn't until after Brooke hit him on the chest with both her fists that he got angry and shoved her back, right into Rachel who had quickly made her way over to the two.

"Hey, what the hell?" she asked as she stepped in front of Brooke, making sure he wouldn't touch her again.

"That bitch went crazy and starting hitting me. Whatever, I'm out of here."

As he walked away, Rachel turned back to face the scared girl and pulled her over to a quieter, more secluded place of the club.

"What happened, Brooke?"

"I can't be intimate with anyone right now, Rachel. I close my eyes and I go back to that night and I can't handle it," she answered, on the verge of breaking down.

Stepping forward, Rachel cupped the other girl's face in her hands to offer some comfort she knew Brooke would need. The tears finally started falling and as Rachel brushed them away with her thumbs, she leaned in and softly pressed her lips to Brooke's.

The kiss was innocent, just slow movement with slightly parted lips but it gave Rachel everything she needed to know. She hesitantly broke the kiss and rested her forehead against Brooke's and slid her hands down to the girl's waist.

"What was that?" Brooke asked, breathing heavily.

"That was being intimate. You can still do it."

"That was a test, Rachel?" Brooke shoved the girl away and turned her back towards her.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't..." Rachel began and tried to reach for the brunette, only to be interrupted.

"You crossed the line."

She didn't even look back as she walked away from the redhead and out of the club, leaving the girl standing in the darkened room, alone.


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: It's been a long time since I updated this, and I apologize. I hope you all haven't lost interest. I have some of the next chapter written out already so it shouldn't take near as long to get it up. **

After Brooke had left, Rachel figured it would be best to let the girl cool off a bit before she tried to apologize. She stayed behind and found an open seat at the bar to sulk by herself. Rachel didn't know why she had kissed her like that, other than to show her that she was still capable of being intimate with someone.

The kiss wasn't anything to write home about, it was just a simple gesture used to get the brunette out of her shell. Although it hadn't been earth shattering, Rachel couldn't tell herself that she didn't like it. She didn't know what that meant, either. Back in high school they had grown closer, and it always seemed to Rachel that the relationship could have gone further than friendship, but it never did.

The redhead was silently asking herself if she actually had feelings for the girl when she was brought out of her thoughts by one of the bartenders, "You know, I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't ask if you wanted something to drink."

Rachel looked up from the bar and met a warm, friendly smile of a girl who couldn't be much older than 20.

"No thanks," she answered, trying her best to return the smile but failing miserably.

"I don't want to seem cliché or anything, but do you wanna talk about it?" The girl ignored the many orders being shouted at her and placed her elbows on the countertop, leaning towards the troubled redhead.

"Just letting a friend cool off before I try to find a ride back home."

"I get off in an hour, I can drop you off," she offered.

Rachel thought it over before immediately saying yes. Sure it would make things easier than trying to get a cab out here or finding another random person who would be willing to make the trip, but she didn't even know the girl's name, much less anything about her.

She looked nice enough, blonde hair, slightly past her shoulders, and piercing blue eyes, but Rachel knew that physical appearance didn't amount to much when it came to whether or not a person was crazy.

"I feel like I should introduce myself, what with skeptical look you're giving me. I'm Blair, and I promise I'm not some axe wielding psychopath."

Her introduction caused Rachel to laugh and eased her mind a little. Deciding the blonde was genuine, she accepted the offer and spent the next hour sipping on drinks that Blair would occasionally drop off in front of her. They talked briefly whenever the girl wasn't bombarded with drink orders or horny guys doing their best to flirt.

Rachel found out that Blair had just dropped out of college after figuring out it wasn't for her and moved east to do whatever fell in her lap. That was how she ended up behind the bar of Tops and Bottoms. She was a free spirit, that much was clear by how she talked, and Rachel knew, if given the chance, they could be pretty good friends.

Another 30 minutes passed by and Blair announced she was clocking out and heading home. After several groans of protest from the other employees who had to stay and clean, she counted out her tips and walked around the bar to where Rachel sat.

"Ready to split?"

"For the past hour," Rachel joked with a laugh and followed the girl to her jeep, nervous about what waited for her at home.

* * *

Blair pulled her jeep into Brooke's drive and let the engine idle while Rachel looked up at the house and stalled getting out of the vehicle.

"Nice house," the blonde said, cutting into the silence that filled the car.

"Huh?" Rachel let out after being pulled from her thoughts but added, "oh, right. Yeah, nice."

Blair let out a slight laugh and gave the girl in the passenger seat a reassuring smile, "The past few months at the bar I've seen more fights than anyone should ever have to see. All I can say is whatever happens at a bar is not worth it. Go sleep it off and work it out in the morning."

Rachel sighed and ran a nervous hand through her hair, trying to calm herself down, "Right, thanks for the drive. How much do I owe you for gas?"

"Are you kidding? Nothing, just go fix whatever you did and come back and tell me about it sometime."

The redhead gave her new friend one last smile before looking up to the house and sighing. She got out of the jeep and fished the extra key Brooke had given her out of her pocket and made her way up the walk to the door.

Once inside the house, she climbed the stairs to the other girl's room just to find the door was closed. She knocked once, but upon hearing no response, she opened the door to a darkened room and made her way over to the bed.

She knew that Brooke wasn't asleep, so she climbed into the bed with her and wrapped her arm around the girl's waist, pulling her closer and whispering in her ear, "I'm sorry."

Brooke just laid there, staring at the wall opposite her, not saying a word until she felt the redhead start to get up, "I froze." Hearing her friend start to talk, Rachel laid back down. "He made a move, and I froze. I still look horrible, like I just had my ass kicked and decided to go out and get laid. A guy like that having anything to do with me with how I look? What do you think his intentions were, Rachel? I froze."

"What were yours, Brooke? We went out knowing you were looking for a one-off. You had the same intentions as him. Bruises or not, it doesn't change the fact that you're gorgeous. He's a guy with eyes, cut him some slack."

"Like the guy that attacked me? Should I cut him some slack because he's just a guy?" Brooke asked, turning over to face the other girl.

Rachel didn't lift her arm from around Brooke's waist, instead she tightened her grip, pulling her even closer, "No, I don't mean cut that person slack. I just...I don't want to fight with you. I'm sorry you got scared, and I'm sorry that I kissed you."

"I don't mind that you kissed me, Rachel. I mind the reason you did it. I'm not some experiment," Brooke whispered, looking into Rachel's eyes, trying to read the emotions playing across them.

"I'm sorry, I won't do it again," she responded, completely ignoring the fact that Brooke didn't mind the kiss itself. It was something she couldn't deal with right now. "Get some sleep, we can talk about this in the morning."

Before getting out of the bed, she placed a light kiss on Brooke's forehead and got up.

"Where are you going?" the brunette asked, the need to not be alone evident in her voice.

"I'm just gonna change. I'll be right back, I promise."

* * *

Rachel woke up to an empty bed and groaned at the time shown on the clock. Stretching out her body, she got up and headed down the stairs to find Brooke.

Standing at the bottom of the stairs in just a white tank top and some boy shorts, Rachel found Brooke talking with her mother on the couch.

"Oh, look, the drug addict who thinks she's a model," Victoria spat out, the disgust written on her face.

"Oh, look, the bitch who thinks she's a mother. Get me when you're done, baby," Rachel winked at Brooke and headed towards the kitchen.

"Baby? Baby?!" Victoria asked, her voice raising each time she said it. "Thank God you're selling your rights. God knows what would happen if it got out you were a lesbian with a drug addict."

"Victoria, we're done here. You got what you wanted, now leave. I'm done with you and everything you represent. Get out," Brooke demanded and left her mom to let herself out.

After walking into the kitchen she found Rachel sitting at the counter, eating a bowl of cereal.

"Bitch."

"Did you see her face, though? So worth it. We should keep it under wraps, can't let it get out that famous Brooke Davis is dating the lesbian drug addict."

Brooke let out a laugh and sat down next to the girl, "Thank you. You're forgiven for last night."

Both girls gave the other a smile, and Brooke poured herself some cereal in the bowl Rachel had set out for her. They each enjoyed their breakfast in silence, both feeling better from the weight that had been lifted off their shoulders.

* * *

After they both had finished eating and getting ready, the girls head to the Clothes Over Bros shop to start cleaning up. Brooke wanted it open again for the weekend, and there was a lot of work that still needed to be done. After almost two hours of non-stop work, it was a welcome sight to see Skills stroll through the door, giving the girls and excuse to take a break.

"You guys need some help?" he asked pointing to a table they were trying to piece back together but not having any luck.

"Sure, take this piece of crap out to the trash," Rachel answered as she stood up and stretched, her shirt riding up a few inches, catching the eyes of both Brooke and Skills.

Sensing an awkward tension settle in the room, Rachel decided to take the table out herself. Once she had left the room, Skills looked back to the brunette who was still seated on the floor. "Heard she got back. Lookin' good as ever," he said, taking a seat next to Brooke.

"I hadn't noticed," Brooke answered, still looking at the door the redhead had just walked out of.

"You're lookin' good, too. I could have it out with those stairs if you need me to. Show 'em what's up."

Brooke brought her attention to the man sitting next to her and smiled, knowing what he was hinting at, "Thanks, Skills. I am better."

"I mean it. I got your back," he responded and draped his arm around the girl's shoulder, pulling her closer. "So, you and Rachel, huh?"

Brooke looked up at him, confusion written all over her face.

"I got eyes, B. I see the way you look at her."

"Look at who?" Rachel asked as she walked back into the store.

"No one," Brooke all but yelled out, jumping up from her spot on the floor causing Skills to laugh and Rachel to look at her like she had gone crazy.

"Anyway," Skills started as he also got up from the floor, "I came by to invite y'all to the game tomorrow, and I guess, maybe, help y'all clean this place up."

Rachel looked at Brooke, waiting on her to answer for them on whether or not they'd be going to the game or not.

"Yeah, a game could be fun. It'd give me a chance to see my 'friends' since they've been too busy to see me," Brooke answered, putting an emphasis on friends.

Catching it, Skills spoke up, "Hey, don't be like that. We've all been worried about you, but how do you go to a girl who doesn't want to be gone to?"

"Easy, you show up like Rachel did and like you're doing now."

Sensing that the awkward tension was creeping back into the room, Rachel interrupted whatever Skills was about to say, "Work. Lots and lots of work to do if you want this place open for the weekend."

The two bickering friends both looked over towards the redhead and sighed before they each nodded.

The three went about picking up discarded garments, mannequins and furniture without another word. Knowing that Brooke was a bit on edge and still a little upset with her friends, Rachel couldn't help but think the game tomorrow night would be full of drama.


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Thanks for the reviews. I really like knowing what you all think of what I'm writing, and it'd be really hard to do without the input, so thank you. I hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving and enjoy the new chapter.**

Friday night came pretty quickly, and Brooke was now standing in front of her mirror applying make-up. The dark areas could hardly be seen under the foundation and would probably be faded to where she didn't need to cover them up in just a few days. Most of the other bruises that had littered her body had already done so, and she was just waiting for the ones under her eyes to catch up.

Thinking about it, she didn't really know why they were going to the game. She tried to tell herself it was because she wanted her friends to know she was ok without them, but the more she thought about it, the more she knew she had to let it go. Her friends all had their own problems with Peyton and Lucas getting engaged, Haley and Nathan and all their Naley problems and Mouth trying to focus on his career. She couldn't fault them for living their lives, and she did have Rachel looking out for her. Even if her other friends were more involved in her life at the moment, Brooke didn't think she'd want any of their help over the redhead's. She had done so much in such a short time that she couldn't picture her life without the girl in it, and that scared her.

It had been a couple of days since the kiss and neither one had really talked about it. Brooke thought it was for the best that they hadn't talked about it because she had no idea what she would say. The kiss had been nice and a breath of fresh air in her somewhat barren love life. She knew that Rachel was an attractive girl, and maybe there could be feelings of the more than friendly type, but she didn't know what those feelings would be. She did know, however, that if a kiss were to happen again, she wouldn't be against it.

On top of the absent friends and the kissing of girls named Rachel, Clothes Over Bros would be opening Saturday with a last minute re-opening party Saturday night. With everything going on, a basketball game probably wasn't the best idea, but it was a chance to get out of the house and have some fun. Besides, it would bring back plenty of fond memories of cheering and the life they had all led while in high school.

She put the finishing touches on her make-up and gave herself a look over. Content with what she saw, she flipped the switch to the lights and headed downstairs to wait for her friend only to find her already seated on the couch.

"Ditch the Bitch," Rachel said standing up.

"I'm sorry," Brooke responded more than a little confused. She knew the girl could be a little random but her outburst was more random than usual.

"For the party. Ditch the Bitch. You just got rid of your mom, you should reinvent yourself."

"Ditch the Bitch," the brunette said, liking the way it rolled off her tongue. "I like it. Too bad you didn't think of it sooner, we could have handed out flyers tonight."

"Already done," the redhead smiled and walked over to the table and picked up a stack of different colored paper. She handed one to Brooke, who then read over it, her eyes widening in the process.

"60% off everything, Rachel?! I can't afford that right now."

"It's a Ditch the Bitch party, Brooke, and that means everything that goes along with her. Sell what you have now at a cheap price that gets people interested again, and then bring in new designs. Trust me, this is a good idea. Have I let you down yet?" Rachel asked and snatched the flyer back from Brooke's grasp.

"Remember that time you kissed me just to show me that I could?"

Rachel let out a slight laugh and grabbed Brooke's hand, leading her out the door, "I'd be more than happy to do it again, for whatever reason you wanted me to."

"I'll remember that," Brooke smiled and followed the girl to the car.

* * *

It was halftime and so far there had been no drama, aside from the Ravens losing 45-39. The team appeared to be in pretty bad shape but Brooke wasn't really paying attention. Her attention was pretty much focused on Lucas and the boys trying to coach or Peyton and Haley sitting two rows below them. She knew that they had turned back more than a couple of times to try and get her and Rachel's attention, but neither one of them were having anything to do with it. Maybe it was out of pettiness, but Brooke was still mad about how they had treated the girl who had been nothing but good to her the past few days.

Rachel was mostly oblivious to everything. She was too busy making sure her track marks were well covered up, ensuring that another embarrassing moment wouldn't happen like at the store. Her actions didn't go unnoticed by Brooke, and the brunette filed it away to talk about later. Right now, she just wanted to make sure they both had a good time which was looking less and less likely as the team came back out from the locker room.

Both girls looked on as Skills and Lucas yelled at each other and Nathan stood off to the side, a defeated look on his face. It was clear that the boys were in over their heads and it made a smile form across Brooke's face. Not because she thought they had it coming to them, but because she knew what it was like to dive into something you might not be ready for.

She was brought out of her thoughts by Rachel's voice and a nudge to her shoulder, "Seriously, if they look back here one more time...I don't know what I'm gonna do, but I know it's not going to be polite."

Brooke let out a laugh and returned the bump to her friend's shoulder, "Be nice, Rach. They can't help it that they can't take their eyes off the two hottest girls in here."

"Damn straight," Rachel responded, draping her arm around Brooke's shoulders and bringing her in for a quick hug.

It were moments like these that made Brooke think they could be more than friends, but she didn't let herself think about it too long, instead she returned her attention back to the hilarity called a basketball game.

* * *

If the two girls could ask for a night of their life back, they would have. The Ravens lost 85-74, Rachel had had a drink spilled in her lap and Brooke had gotten into an argument with a teenage girl who wouldn't stop kicking under her spot in the bleachers.

After the game had ended, the girls had gotten up to hand out flyers to the departing fans, hoping that the idea of a party would raise their spirits after the hard loss suffered by the team. Deciding that they had handed out enough, they sat back down in the now almost empty gym. Save for Peyton and Haley, there was no one else in the bleachers, and the four waited for the team and coaches to make their way back from the locker room. While waiting, Rachel looked down at her arms to make sure her marks were still hidden one last time, but it was one time too many.

"Please don't do that. You look fine, I promise, and I promise that I won't let anyone say anything to you," Brooke said, placing her hand on the girl's arm.

"I just don't want you to be ashamed of me. Your friends have never really liked me, and I don't want to give them another reason," she responded, not looking up from her lap.

"I could never be ashamed of you, Rachel. I'm more ashamed of them for acting the way they did," looking over the court and seeing Skills, Nathan, Lucas and Jamie walk through the door she looked back over to Rachel with a sympathetic smile, "I need to go talk to Skills, will you be ok by yourself for a little bit?"

"I've been by myself before, I think I can manage a few minutes without you. You know, like I did when you decided to leave me stranded at the bar the other night."

Brooke got up with a laugh and walked down a few of the stairs to the court before throwing a look over her shoulder, "Smart ass."

Rachel laughed, and then looked away nervously when she noticed Peyton and Haley had witnessed the encounter and were now focusing their attention on her. Hoping that they would take the hint and look away, she was disappointed when they both got up from their seat and started walking towards her.

While this was going on, Brooke made her way across the court, Lucas expecting her to stop in front of him to talk. He was a little surprised when the brunette walked by without even so much of a glance his way to talk with Skills.

"Hey, I'd say good game...but I try to lie as little as possible," she said with a laugh.

"Maybe make an exception this one time," he responded, pulling the girl into a hug, looking over her shoulder noticing both Lucas and Nathan standing there watching them.

"That was a great game, Skills," Brooke laughed again, pulling away from the hug and looking more serious. "Thank you for yesterday."

"Yesterday?"

"Yeah, I know you know what really happened to me, but thank you for not pushing me about it."

"I dunno what you're talkin' about. All I know is you tripped down some stairs and got banged up. Now if something were to have happened, I'd handle it for you."

"When did you become such a good friend?" Brooke asked, stepping back in for another hug.

"Hey, I always got you," he answered, catching the other two guys' eyes again and noticing Rachel being talked to by Peyton and Haley. "Your girl looks like she needs some help."

Brooke looked up at him confused, but then realized who he was talking about and turned around to find the redhead appearing to be corned by the other two girls. Without another word she made her way to where the three were, hoping she wouldn't have to get into another argument.

While Brooke was with Skills, Rachel shifted uncomfortably in her seat as the two girls stood in front of her. "Good game, huh?" she asked trying to break the silence.

"Not really," Haley answered, "We didn't come over here to make small talk with you, Rachel. We're not friends and never have been, but I can see that you and Brooke are close. I admit that some of the things I said were out of line, I apologize, but I meant what I said about you coming near my son. You understand that it wouldn't be the best for him to see you looking like that."

"I understand," the redhead answered simply, wanting the conversation to be over as quickly as possible.

"And I don't understand how Brooke has allowed herself to get so close to you. You've done a lot to hurt her over the years, and you just stole from her not too long ago. I don't get how she can just forgive you like nothing happened. I can't do that, but if she accepts you, I will too. Just know that I'll be watching you," Peyton decided to add to what Haley had already said.

"Right, got it," Rachel answered simply again even though she knew there were so many things about what the blonde had just said she could argue about.

Before either one could continue, Brooke appeared behind them demanding to know what was going on.

"They apologized for what happened the other day," Rachel quickly threw out, knowing Brooke was on edge and anything the other two might have said had the chance of setting her off.

By this time the boys had made their way to where the girls stood standing in the bleachers, waiting for them to sort out whatever problems they were having.

"We should all go out. Get drunk and forget about that 'game' we just saw," Rachel suggested to the group.

"Some of us have kids," Nathan answered making sure Jamie was still standing next to him.

"Stay at home then. I'm down," Skills responded moving to drape his arm around Brooke's shoulders, catching the eyes of both Lucas and Rachel and neither one of them looking too happy about it.

"Me too. Tops and Bottoms?" Brooke directed her question to the redhead.

"Yep," she answered handing the rest of the flyers to Brooke before walking down the bleachers to court level and out the door.

"You guys can meet us there if you decide to come," Brooke instructed the group standing in front of her before following her friend out of the gym into the cool night air. "Hey, what's wrong? Did they say something to you?" she called out to Rachel's back as she made her way to the car.

"No," Rachel answered over her shoulder not bothering to stop and wait for the girl, "I'm just ready to get out of here."

Jogging the rest of the way to catch up, Brooke grabbed the girl's arm to stop her walking, "You'd tell me if something happened, right?"

"Nothing happened, Brooke. The game sucked, and I was bored sitting around talking."

"Ok, let's go."

* * *

The two made it to the bar they had been just a few days before, what happening still fresh on each of their minds. After walking through the door, Rachel made her way quickly to the bar, a smile playing on her face when she saw a familiar blonde working behind the counter.

Noticing who the girl was looking at and the smile on her face, Brooke asked confused, "Who is that?"

"Blair," was the only response she got, almost like Rachel thought Brooke should know who Blair was.

Rachel walked the last few steps toward the bar and stood in front of Blair who was busy pouring drinks, "What's a girl gotta do to get a drink around here?" she shouted over the music.

"Hey! What do you want? It's on the house," the blonde greeted the girl standing in front of her excitedly.

"You want something?" the redhead asked Brooke who had just fought her way to where her friend stood, looking unimpressed with the blonde bartender who stood in front of them waiting on the order.

"No," she answered and turned away from the two, seeing the rest of the group walk through the door.

Rachel ordered a shot, and after quickly downing the contents, grimacing as the liquid burned down her throat, she followed behind Brooke who had started walking towards her other friends.

Everyone had come except for Nathan and Haley, but they would be dropping Jamie off with Deb and be on their way in a few minutes. The loud thumping of the music was doing a good job of distracting the group from how awkward their silence actually was.

Lucas didn't know what was going on with Brooke and Skills, Brooke didn't know why she was jealous of the blonde behind the bar and Rachel didn't know she was feeling the same way as Brooke at that exact moment.

"Who wants to dance?" Skills asked, tired of standing around in awkward silence.

"You guys go ahead, I'm gonna go talk to Blair for a little bit."

Brooke rolled her eyes as Rachel turned and headed back to the bar. She didn't let it bother her, though. She was here to have fun, and that's what she was going to do. Grabbing Skills' hand, she dragged him out to the dance floor with Peyton and Lucas following closely behind.

As they danced she would steal quick glances towards the bar, not really sure what she was expecting to see. As far as she knew, Rachel just wasn't that into girls, the kiss the other night had been one of the exceptions. Sure she had joked about it and maybe hinted that she could be into it, but Brooke had never known of Rachel being with another girl. She tried to tell herself that being jealous of the blonde was stupid considering that she had no idea what their relationship even consisted of.

Were they friends, friends with benefits or could there be a possibility of something more? She didn't know, but instead of trying to help her figure it out, Rachel was over there talking to that girl.

"Don't worry about it," Skills said loud enough for only Brooke to hear.

She turned her back to him, still dancing to the music, and focused on the actions of the two girls across the room. She had no idea what the two could be talking about; she didn't even know the girl existed until just a few minutes ago. Without looking away, she continued to dance with Skills but made sure the redhead was always in her line of sight.

"So, you two are better now?" Blair asked Rachel after listening to girl's rendition of the fight.

"More or less. I know to keep my mouth to myself, now, but I don't think anything is really fixed between us. It's been pretty weird the past few days," Rachel answered and threw back another shot, grimacing again.

"Obviously the kiss planted a seed, the girl can't take her eyes off you."

Surprised at what the blonde had just said, Rachel shifted in her stool so that she was looking over her shoulder, and, sure enough, there was Brooke staring at her. Her and Skills were dancing pretty closely, his arm hung loosely around her waist with her hand resting on top of his, but the brunette seemed like she could hardly be bothered with what was going on around her.

Rachel turned back around and pointed at her empty shot glass, indicating she was ready for another. "That's the weird part. All of a sudden they're hanging all over each other, and it bugs the hell out of me."

"I guarantee if you go over there you'll get way more than a peck on the lips with how she's looking at you right now," Blair responded as she set another shot down in front of the girl.

"And what if that's not what I want?" Rachel asked nervously, toying with the small glass in front of her.

"Then don't go over there," and with that Blair left the girl to her thoughts to go take other orders, knowing she had neglected the other customers for too long.

With a final sigh Rachel, once again, downed the fiery contents in her glass and got up to make her way to the dancing brunette.

Seeing that the redhead was making her way over to where the group was dancing, Brooke grew increasingly nervous and anxious. Not being able to stand there and watch as each step brought the girl closer, she turned back to face Skills, hoping that he could distract her from the range of emotions that were flowing through her. It didn't work, though, as her heart continued to pound harder and faster with each second that passed.

It was another thing that confused Brooke. They were just two friends enjoying a night out on the town with drinking and dancing, but if she was really honest with herself she knew that she was excited with the possibility of what might happen.

She wasn't able to think further on it, however, as two hands found their way to her hips and a familiar voice said just loudly enough into her ear, "My turn," sending shivers down Brooke's spine.

Taking his cue to leave, Skills made his way over to Peyton and Lucas to bob along to the beat and let the girls do their own thing.

Never taking her hands off the girl's body, she began to guide the brunettes hips to the same rhythm her own were going. The two had moved impossibly close, Rachel's body molding into the back of Brooke's, who had thrown her head back against the girl's shoulder and tangled her hand in a mass of dark red hair.

Grinding her hips into the back of Brooke, Rachel lowered her head to the girl's neck trying to stifle a moan that was on the verge of escaping. Knowing that she should stop their dance or chance putting on an entirely different kind of show for the crowded bar, Brooke dug her hand deeper into the girl's hair, pulling her closer, nonetheless.

Not being able to take it anymore, Brooke turned around in the girl's arms and saw a mask of emotions that mirrored her own. It was obvious that Rachel was just as nervous and scared as Brooke was, which worried the girl even more considering Rachel was hardly ever nervous about anything.

They continued to sway back and forth until the dance had, more or less, cooled down to the girls just standing there looking at each other. Brooke grabbed hold of Rachel's hand and dragged her from the dance floor to the bathroom, not noticing that Haley and Nathan had arrived, nor any of their friends questioning faces.

"I thought Brooke was into you?" Lucas asked Skills, the only one who wasn't wearing a shocked expression.

"You thought wrong, man," he answered, somewhat easing the worry that had been seeping over the Scott brother for much of the night.

* * *

"What the hell was that?" Brooke tried to control her voice but failing as it climbed a few decibels.

"Dancing," Rachel was trying to act nonchalant; she really didn't want to be having this conversation in front of the total strangers who were all staring at them.

"No, I know dancing, and that wasn't it. I was dancing with Skills. What we were doing was something entirely different."

"Felt like dancing to me."

The bathroom had begun to clear out some, allowing the girls to talk more freely, but it had become clear that that wasn't something Rachel was up for doing.

"Please be serious. You flirt with me, kiss me and then you practically hump me out there. Is that just your warped way of treating friends, or do you actually want something more? I'm confused, and sweaty dancing did not help at all."

Rachel had stayed quiet for a few moments after the girl's rant before finally working up enough courage to whisper out, "maybe."

Trying to get the redhead to look up from her feet, Brooke took a step forward, took hold of one of her hands and laced their fingers together. "Maybe what?" she asked, tightening her grip on the girl's hand and taking another step forward.

"Maybe I do. I'm just as confused as you," she answered finally looking up to meet Brooke's eyes.

"It has to be yes or no. I can't deal with a maybe right now."

Rachel let out a sigh and looked down at their joined hands, liking how it felt just to be close to the other girl. It was something she had missed while she was away trying to clean herself up, and it was something she wouldn't mess up again. Somewhere along the way their relationship had changed. They had grown as friends into something more and trying to ignore or quiet what she knew they both were feeling would prove to be a mistake.

Letting a small smile stretch across her lips, Rachel looked back up and didn't feel as nervous or scared as she had before, "Yes."


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: Thanks for all the reviews guys. Just to clear something up that might be a little confusing, Skills is the only one from the group who knows about Rachel and Brooke. I'm sorry if I didn't explain that well enough before. Anyway, Happy Holidays and I promise you won't have to wait a month for the next update. **

Brooke and Rachel had made their way home from the bar not long after the conversation in the bathroom. Neither one had stopped long enough to explain what had happened on the dance floor to their friends, instead Rachel paid her tab, and they both walked out the door. Blair and Skills both gave them knowing looks, but the rest of the group were more than confused as to what was going on.

Closing the front door behind her, Brooke walked nervously to where Rachel sat on the couch, not sure what to do in the situation she was in. Sure she had been here plenty of times with guys but never had she been with a girl, especially one of her friends.

Although she was better at masking it, Rachel was just as unsure as the brunette. She didn't want anything this new relationship might bring to ruin the friendship they already had. There were only a select few who were there for the girl when she needed them, and Brooke was the most important one.

Brooke sat down next to the girl with enough distance between them so that they weren't touching. Rachel looked over and smiled, some of the nervousness leaving her body. "What do we do now?" she asked trying to get Brooke to relax.

"Go on a date? I mean, that's what people usually do after they kiss, right?" Brooke asked and slouched further down into the couch.

"I don't."

"Right, well you're a whore," Brooke laughed at the glare she received from the other girl.

"Ha ha. I could take you to the party tomorrow night."

"You could take me to the party I'm throwing?"

"Yeah," Rachel answered confused as to why that would be a problem.

"It's my party. That's not very romantic."

Rachel laughed at the upset look the girl was wearing and couldn't help but to continue to tease, "Who said anything about romance? I'm not in this for that."

Brooke looked up at the girl, not sure whether or not she was joking, "Then why are you?"

"Well, you're kinda hot," she started and scooted closer to Brooke, "and you're a pretty good kisser," she continued leaning in, just inches away from the girl's face, her soft breath hitting Brooke's slightly parted lips, "and I've got to repay you for letting me stay here."

Surprised at what came out of the redhead's mouth, Brooke gently pushed her away, "That's not fun..." she started but was cut off by Rachel's lips on her own.

It was the first time they had kissed since the night at the bar, but it didn't take long for Brooke to respond. Her hand quickly found its way to the back of Rachel's neck, pulling her closer than what she already was. All the awkwardness drained away as the kiss continued, growing deeper with each second that passed.

Rachel started to push Brooke down onto the couch, never breaking the kiss, and once they were both laying down, Rachel gave her one last quick kiss before pulling away and smiling at the girl.

"Why didn't we ever do this in high school?" Brooke asked after finally catching her breath, moving her hands down to the redhead's hips.

"Because you were always too busy chasing after boys."

"Ok, Miss. I tried to kill Cooper and then hook up with a married man, I wasn't the only one who was boy crazy," the brunette laughed.

"Please, that was just to get your attention. It obviously didn't work," Rachel responded, re-situating themselves so that they were laying on their sides facing each other.

They sat there for a few minutes just looking at each other and being comfortable in the other's company. Rachel moved a piece of hair that had fallen across Brooke's face back behind her ear and smiled, "I've never done romance. I've done fun, and the party tomorrow should be fun. Can we just start with that and move up to the romantic stuff?"

"Yes," Brooke answered, snuggling in closer to the girl laying beside her and resting her head just below the girl's chin.

* * *

Sometime during the night the girls had fallen asleep. Brooke was still curled up next to Rachel, and Rachel's arm hanged loosely around the girl's waist, but, being that they were on a couch, the position had proven to be very uncomfortable after hours of not moving.

Groaning at the cramps and soreness that plagued her body, Rachel opened her eyes to the sun filled room and remembered why she was in the uncomfortable position in the first place. She smiled at the thought of what had happened the night before and tightened her grip around the sleeping girl's body, but her smile faltered when she felt a distinct wet spot on the top of her shirt.

Rolling Brooke over to her back and hovering just above her, Rachel looked down at her shirt and saw that there was, in fact, a wet spot visible on her shirt. "Wake up, nasty ass," she said in a not so soft voice.

Letting out a similar groan to the one that Rachel had done just moments before, Brooke slowly opened her eyes and blinked a few times before they adjusted to the light.

"What the hell, Rachel? I was comfy."

"No kidding. You drooled all over me," she said pointing to the spot on her shirt.

"I did not!"

"Really? Then how'd that get there?"

"You obviously drooled on yourself."

"Right, Brooke. I just happened to drool in the exact spot you were laying. It's time to get up anyway, we need to set the store up."

Up until this point they were enjoying comfortable banter, but now that it was over, their close proximity and the newness of their relationship became apparent. Rachel wasn't sure what to do because if this had been a man, she would have been long gone by now. Not only was waking up with someone completely new to her but waking up with Brooke was something entirely different. Even though they hadn't done anything more than kiss, both girls were feeling awkward laying there looking at each other.

"So...this is weird, huh?" Brooke asked, almost as if she could read the girl's mind.

"A little."

"I thought so. I know that we're going on our first date tonight and we're starting out with fun, but why don't we take things slow. Like, don't sleep together until we're ready to...you know...sleep together."

Rachel smiled, relief washing over her face, "I can deal with that, but we really need to get up and get the store ready."

Brooke returned the smile and nodded before they each got up and went about getting dressed.

* * *

Lunch time rolled around while the two had been steadily getting the Clothes Over Bros shop ready for the night's party. Brooke knew that it was time to take a break when she heard Rachel's stomach growl from across the room.

"Wow, Rachel, hungry much?" She asked as she set down the streamer she had been trying to wrap around a clothing rack.

"Well, being your slave is hard work. My body obviously needs more energy."

"Ugh, sometimes you can be so annoying, you know that?"

"Awe, did I make wittle Penelope mad?" Rachel asked in a mocking tone and made her way over to Brooke, who had her hands placed firmly on her hips, obviously annoyed. "How will I ever make it up to her," she asked as she wrapped her arms around the brunette through the openings the girl's arms created and pulled her closer.

Brooke removed her hands from her hips, placed them around the redhead's neck and tried to suppress the smile that was on the verge of escaping, "Quit being so mean to her and she'll probably forgive you. She may even feed you."

Rachel let out a chuckle before lowering her head and closing the distance between them. Their lips were nearly touching when the bell above the door sounded, sending Brooke flying away from the girl.

In walked Peyton, Haley and Lucas, oblivious to what had almost happened before they arrived.

"Oh, hey, you're almost ready. We were coming by to help," Peyton said as she looked around the room and saw that it had already been decorated.

"Uh, yeah, for the most part," Brooke responded still a little de-shelved from almost being caught kissing the girl that nearly all of her friends hated.

Rachel looked more than a little upset at being interrupted and hurt that Brooke hadn't wanted them to see, "Still hungry," she said with her arms crossed over her chest.

"You guys want to go get something to eat? I can pick up something for Nathan and Jamie when we're done," Haley suggested to the group.

After everyone agreed and decided where to eat, the five of them left the store and headed down the street in somewhat awkward silence.

* * *

Rachel had just finished her burger and onion rings when she noticed everyone at the table staring at her, "What?" she asked wondering what was so interesting about her eating. She made sure there was nothing on her face by wiping it off with the napkin in her lap, but when nobody looked away, she raised her eyebrows and waited for a response.

"I don't think I've ever seen you eat that much," Lucas answered for the group.

"I was hungry."

"I guess I just didn't think such a little person could hold so much food."

"Don't worry, I'll be throwing it up in a few minutes," she answered, a small smile playing across her face.

"Rachel!" the three other girls with them exclaimed at once.

Not being able to help it, the redhead let out a laugh, "It was just a joke....I haven't done that in at least a year."

"It's not funny. You know I only hire healthy models," Brooke spoke up, cutting into the girl's laughter.

"Which is why you fired the drug addict. I get it Brooke, but if you don't like my answers, quit talking about how much I eat."

"I didn't bring it up, Lucas did," the brunette tried to defend herself.

"No, you just bring it up every other time. You guys want to know why I eat? Because it's better than the alternative. I get a craving I eat. Would you rather me go around screwing guys or shooting up?" When no one responded, or even looked at her, she continued, "Right, didn't think so because if I did that I wouldn't get to see Jamie or even be treated with respect by you people. Oh, wait, I already don't get those things."

Finished with her rant, she pushed back her chair, causing it to fall over and walked away from the table. Brooke didn't wait for reactions from the other people at the table before she was chasing after the girl.

"Rachel, wait. Rachel!" She yelled to the girl's retreating back. When she finally caught up to her, she grabbed her arm and spun her around, seeing tears covering her face.

"This was a mistake," she chocked out between sobs.

"Lunch?" Brooke asked confused.

"Me coming here and thinking I'd be accepted."

"You are accepted, nobody meant anything back there."

"Nobody ever means anything do they, Brooke? Your two best friends belittle me every chance they get, I know what Lucas and Nathan think of me, and where the hell is Mouth? And then you, you couldn't get far enough away from me in the store. I thought you weren't ashamed of me."

"Rachel, stop. I'm not ashamed of you, but I'd like the chance to tell my friends about us instead of them just walking in on it. You think you're my dirty little secret? You're wrong, but no I don't want them to know about us right now. I want us to be able to just be us and figure this thing out. Them knowing would just complicate things," Brooke said, trying to calm the girl down.

"It was a mistake. Look, I'm sorry I kissed you, I shouldn't have. There's nothing to figure out. Just leave me alone and give me time to think."

"No, don't do this. I don't understand what happened. We were fine, things with us were fine. What happened, Rachel?" Brooke asked frantically, not letting Rachel walk away from her.

"It's been building ever since I got here," and without letting Brooke get in another word, she pulled out of her grasp and walked away.

Wanting more than anything to follow her, Brooke knew that doing so would cause a bigger rift to form between them, and that was something she wanted to avoid at all costs. Deciding it would be better to have a talk with her friends instead of forcing the redhead to listen to her, she made her way back over to the table, wiping her eyes along the way.

When she returned, she was greeted with three sets of waiting eyes, each of them confused at what had transpired just a few minutes before.

"Is she ok? I really didn't mean to upset her," Lucas asked hoping his teasing hadn't upset the girl too much.

"I don't think so. I know you didn't mean anything by it Lucas, but you guys have to try to be nicer because she's trying really hard to change."

"I get that you're friends with her, Brooke, but have you forgotten high school? Her whole purpose in being there was to make your life hell. First Lucas, then the cheerleading squad. Don't even get me started on her almost killing herself and Cooper, stealing the answers to a test and hitting on Nathan. And just a few months ago money was stolen from you, and she may say she didn't do it, but how much can we really trust her?" Peyton complained while Haley nodded in agreement, and Lucas sat there staring off in space.

"I'm not asking for you guys to be her best friends, but I am asking for you to be nice. You don't want to get started on mistakes she's made? What about you three? Were we together when she was trying to get with you?" She asked Lucas, drawing him out of his trance.

"No, but I was married to Nathan when she started hitting on him," Haley spoke up, memories of their senior year making her angry.

"Yeah, and you were married to him when you kissed Chris Keller."

The table fell silent and all accusations from the other two girls stopped.

"And you, you kissed Lucas twice while we were together, so how dare you even bring that up," she continued, pointing at Peyton. "I get that she's made some mistakes. Every one of us has, but for you guys to sit there and act better than her because she's having trouble right now? I don't understand it."

She looked around the table and rolled her eyes when no one made an attempt to speak up or even acknowledge her. "I really didn't want it to come to this, but if I have to choose, I really doubt you'll like my choice because you three have done nothing to make me want to choose you."

As she got up to leave the table, Lucas grabbed her arm forcing her to stop, "I can't speak for the others, but I admit I've been a less than acceptable friend as of late, so I apologize. As far as Rachel's concerned, I don't have a problem with her. I'll make sure she understands that."

Brooke smiled, thankful that she had gotten through to at least one of them, "Thank you, Lucas."

"I'll be nicer," Peyton said, looking up from her plate of food.

"Me too," Haley added.

It wasn't much, but it was better than what she expected, "Thank you. You guys still want to help? I could use some."

* * *

It was nearing nine o'clock and Rachel still hadn't been by the house. When she had told Brooke she needed some time alone to think, she didn't realize that she would need hours, but here she was, standing in the middle of the River Court.

She was standing in the exact spot she had been when she walked onto the court, but the ache in her legs never registered in her brain. It was too busy thinking of other things. She was so engrossed in her thoughts that she didn't even hear a car door close and someone walk up behind her, but when the person spoke up, it didn't startle her. She was too worn out from everything that had happened to care about being scared.

"You're gonna miss the party," Skills spoke out into the night.

Rachel turned around and faced the man who had spoken to her and saw that he was dressed in a nice black suit.

"Don't think I'm gonna be able to make it," she smiled sadly and made her way over to a set of bleachers, finally realizing how much her legs were killing her.

"Why's that?" Skills asked as he followed her over to where she sat down.

"You see, I've been standing out here for a few hours now, so to say my legs are killing me just wouldn't do the pain justice. There's no way I can throw on some heels and stand around at a party for another couple of hours."

"You sure it's your legs killing you and not your head? You looked pretty intense with all the thinking."

"Just stupid thoughts," she answered glancing over her shoulder and smiling at the man sitting next to her.

"Naw, see, I think those thoughts was 'bout Brooke, and the reason you've been standing out here so long is you don't know what to do with those thoughts."

"I hate you. How'd you get to know me so well, and when did you start liking me?"

Skills laughed and threw his arm around the girl's shoulders, bringing her closer to him, "I never didn't like you. Sure we had trouble when you messed around with Haley, but the way I see it I owe you one."

Looking at him confused, Rachel raised an eyebrow and waited for him to explain.

"If it hadn't been for you talking Bev out of her draft choice, she may never had picked me, so you were kinda like our matchmaker. Hopefully I can do a better job of it."

Rachel laughed and leaned into Skills, resting her head on his shoulder, "Sorry about that. I can try again if you want."

"No, you've done enough already."

After the laughing had subsided, a peaceful silence settled between the two as they just sat on the cold metal of the bleachers looking out into the water.

Another few minutes passed before the silence was broken and Skills spoke up again, "Let me take you home so you can get ready."

Rachel finally pulled out of the man's embrace and looked up at him, not sure if she wanted to go to the party or not, but after thinking it over she responded, "I need to make a stop first. How'd you know I was here anyway?"

Skills smiled, "Funny thing about the Court, it tends to draw people who need to think."

* * *

The party was in full swing and the store was packed. Brooke had already sold five of her more expensive dresses, and even though two of them were bought by Peyton and Haley, it was more than she thought she would have because of the bad press and the store being closed as long as it had been. As she rang up a shirt, she glanced around the room and noticed that all of her friends were in attendance except for Skills and Rachel, even Jamie was walking around dressed in his little tux.

She hadn't expected Rachel to show up and was upset that their first date would probably never happen now, but she was also upset that Skills hadn't shown when he promised that he would be there. After closing the drawer to the cash register, she walked around the counter to where Haley stood fixing Jamie's bow tie.

"Mama, quit messin' with me," he protested while giving his best pout.

"Ok, ok. Brooke, can you straighten it out for me. He doesn't want to be seen with his mom in front of all these girls."

"Sure, come here little guy," she answered and scooped up the boy and placed him on the counter.

"Thank you. I'm gonna go find your daddy, maybe he won't be embarrassed to be seen with me," Haley said as she leaned down and planted a big kiss on her son's cheek.

"Mama!" he cried out and wiped the spot she had kissed clean.

Haley took the hint and left the boy alone to go find her husband, laughing as she walked away.

"That wasn't very nice, Jamie," Brooke pretended to scold the child.

"But there's all these pretty girls here."

Brooke laughed and looked around the room, "I guess they're ok, but you should still be nice to your mom. She's one of the pretty girls."

"Brooke, Brooke! Look at her! She's the prettiest one here!" The little boy exclaimed, shaking Brooke's arm and pointing to the door to show her who he was talking about.

"Yeah...she is," she answered not really paying attention to the rest of the boys excited remarks because, across the room, her eyes locked with Rachel's, who had come in with Skills.

As they made their way through the crowd to where the brunette stood with Jamie, Brooke couldn't help but notice how gorgeous the girl was.

She thought that if there was a definition to little black dress, Rachel's picture would be under it. The dress came down to mid thigh and dipped low enough to show off the right amount of cleavage. It was a simple dress accessorized with simple black heels, but the way Rachel pulled them off was remarkable. Her hair was slightly curled, her long bangs clipped up out of her face, and bounced with each step she took. Looking at her now, Brooke remembered why she had hired the girl to do shows for her in the first place, she was stunning.

"You made it," she said as the two came to a stop in front of her.

"I wouldn't have missed it," Rachel answered smiling at the girl only to realize the small child sitting behind Brooke on the counter with his mouth hanging open.

Catching Rachel's gaze had shifted to Jamie, Brooke took the opportunity to introduce them, "Rachel, this is Jamie, Nathan and Haley's son. He thinks you're the prettiest girl in the room."

"Awe, then he's not looking hard enough," she answered and glanced back over to Brooke before continuing, "you're not so bad yourself, kid."

Noticing the blush creep up both Jamie's and Brooke's cheeks, Skills spoke up from behind the redhead, "Well, since no one wants to complement me and how pretty I look, why don't you and me go find a girl that will?" he asked Jamie who quickly nodded so that he could get away from the embarrassing situation.

Silently thanking him with a smile, Rachel grabbed Brooke's hand and led her to the back storage room. After closing the door she turned back to face the brunette, placed a hand on either side of the girl's waist and started walking her backwards towards a table on the opposite side of the room.

"I'm really sorry," she whispered as they walked across the room.

Brooke knew that she should be upset with the girl but, with how she was looking at her and talking to her, it was almost impossible to stay mad, "It hurt when you said I was a mistake."

"I didn't mean it," she answered simply as they reached the table and came to a halt. Brooke turned her head and glanced at the object and back towards Rachel with a cocked eyebrow. The redhead grinned and helped lift the girl to the table's surface. Standing between the brunette's legs, Rachel dipped her head just enough to where she was just inches away, "You look pretty."

"Yeah you better say that, you almost ruined our first date," Brooke smiled and grasped at the girl's waist, trying to pull her in closer.

"How am I doing now?"

"Better," Brooke answered as she sat up enough so that their lips connected with each other's.


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: I'm really sorry for the long delay in getting another chapter posted. Thanks for all of the reviews, and I hope you guys are still interested.**

Two weeks had passed since the night of the party and Rachel had pretty much moved out of Brooke's house. Keeping their word about taking things slow, they both thought it would be a good idea to put a little space between them. She had decided to stay with Skills until she could find her own place, and he was glad to accept since he was pretty lonely with Lucas and Mouth both leaving.

Brooke tried her best not to appear to be checking up on the girl, but she couldn't help it, and once every few days she would stop by the apartment to make sure everything was going ok. She knew that she shouldn't doubt either Skills or Rachel, but it was hard not to when it was always a possibility that the redhead could lapse back into her drug habits.

Walking up to the door she knew wouldn't be locked, Brooke entered the apartment and found the person she was looking for banging on a pair of fake drums while Skills strummed the guitar to Rock Band. Not wanting to interrupt the song, Brooke just stood back and watched as the two friends got way more into the song than either would like to admit to anyone else.

After the song was over, Rachel lifted her hands high in the air, a stick grasped by each fist, and banged her head back and forth in a sort of victory dance while Skills dropped down to his knees and strummed furiously on the plastic guitar even after the notes had finished. Brooke couldn't contain herself any longer and busted out laughing while giving them a round of applause.

Surprised that someone was in the apartment, both Skills and Rachel turned quickly to face the intruder, Skills even going as far to grasp the guitar like a bat, but relaxed when they saw who it was.

"When's the tour?" Brooke asked once she had regained composure.

"We're actually still fine tuning it. Wanna be the singer?" Rachel responded with her own question and got up from her seat behind the drums to greet her almost girlfriend. They still hadn't decided what they were or what they should call themselves, but it didn't seem to bother either one of them now as they stood in the middle of the room lightly kissing.

"I should tell you two to get a room, but I'd be less of a man if I did that."

Laughing, Brooke pulled away from the kiss and looked over towards the man who was standing awkwardly by himself, "You should get a girlfriend, Skills. It's kinda creepy how you stand around watching us."

"You think it's tough on you having me around watching you two go at it? What about me? I'm the one that has to do all the watching. It wears a guy out," he retaliated as he placed his guitar on the couch by the drum set.

"Oh yeah, you live such a rough life. Getting to watch two hot girls make out must be so hard."

"Hey, someone's gotta do it."

Brooke laughed again but then glanced at the clock and noticed what time it was, "Skills, don't you have a job?"

"Oh, damn. Rachel we agreed it would just be one song!" The man almost cried out as he rushed around grabbing the essentials for his day at the school, which consisted of a water bottle and a bag of chips.

" 'Hey, Rach, wanna finish this set?' That's what you asked me when we finished that one song," the redhead defended herself.

After running around the apartment a few more times, Skills made his way to the front door and gave one last look to the two girls and let out a sigh before walking out.

"What about you," Brooke asked as the laughing subsided.

In the two weeks since the party, not only had Rachel moved out of Brooke's house, but she had gotten herself a job at Tops and Bottoms where Blair worked. Brooke was skeptical at first, she didn't want Brooke to be tempted by the alcohol or the shady people that frequented the place. She had suggested Tric as an alternative, but Rachel had quickly declined, saying that she had already made friends with Blair and enjoyed the atmosphere of the place.

"Nope, it's my day off."

Letting a sly grin spread across her face, Brooke walked over to the couch, indicating that she wanted Rachel to follow, "So I get you to myself for the rest of the day?"

"Yep." Rachel answered with her own smile and sat next to the girl on the couch.

"Good." Brooke swung a leg over the girl's lap and positioned herself to where she was straddling her and placed small kisses along her jawline.

Almost unable to speak, Rachel finally moaned out, "What happened to slow?"

"Mmm, this isn't slow?" Brooke asked between kisses.

"Not even a little bit."

Brooke pulled away slightly and looked at the girl with a confused look on her face, "Do you not like it?"

Realizing she had upset the girl, Rachel placed a hand on each of Brooke's thighs and gently squeezed, "I do like it. It's no naked girl in my backseat, but it's a close second."

Peering up from under her eyelashes, Brooke smiled and leaned in to rest her forehead against the girl's under her, "I'm sure that can be arranged."

"Yeah?"

"Oh yeah," Brooke answered and leaned in further to capture the redhead's lips. The kiss started off slow and innocent, but as soon as Brooke's tongue slid across Rachel's bottom lip asking for entrance, it grew with passion.

They stayed like that kissing for several minutes, but once Brooke rocked her hips into Rachel's, the girl pulled away, fighting for breath, "We have to stop."

"Ugh, who came up with this slow idea anyway?" Brooke asked annoyed as she slid off the girl's lap and fell onto the couch.

"You did."

"Right, why was that again?"

Rachel laughed and grabbed hold of one of the brunettes hands and pulled her into a seated position next to her, "So it's not all about sex."

Brooke snuggled into the girl and rested her head on Rachel's shoulder, "Oh, yeah. Is this allowed?" She asked as she circled her arms around the redhead's waist.

"Yeah, just watch where your hands go this time."

* * *

The rest of the day was filled with TV watching, cuddling and banter until Brooke had to leave to get ready for Tric that night. A random band, who Peyton was looking to sign, was set to perform, and the blonde wanted everyone there to judge their talent. Brooke had agreed to go once she was given assurance that Rachel would be welcomed.

Brooke had arrived a few minutes before Rachel and Skills and took the opportunity to talk with Lucas and Peyton.

"Hey guys, where are Nathan and Haley?" She asked once she made her way over to them.

"They couldn't make it. Jamie was feeling a little sick," Lucas responded without paying much attention to Brooke. He was too busy focusing on Peyton, wrapping his arms around her waist from behind and resting his head on the blonde's shoulder. Sometimes their affection toward each other hurt the girl, considering how much she had loved Lucas back in high school, but for the most part she was ok with it. She had her store, that was just starting to turn things around, and she had Rachel.

She did wish that Rachel could hold her like Lucas was holding Peyton, but her friends just wouldn't understand the relationship. Until they could, Brooke knew that her and Rachel would have to stay a secret.

As if the girl knew Brooke was thinking about her, the red head walked up behind her and poked her sides causing the girl to let out a yelp. Brooke wheeled around and smiled when she saw Rachel's raised eyebrows and playful expression on her face. Lucas and Peyton just looked on in mild confusion. They both knew the two girls were close, but they seemed to be extremely close in recent weeks. Rachel came up with any excuse to touch or be near the girl, and Brooke didn't seem to mind. The two just put it off to the girls both needing someone in their life because the alternative was just too hard to accept.

"Finally!" Brooke exclaimed but had to stop herself as she was about to lean up and kiss the girl.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm a little late, but somehow you managed to survive." She said with a smile before glancing over the brunettes shoulder. "Hey guys, I didn't miss the band did I?"

"No, don't let Brooke make you feel bad. She just got here." Peyton answered.

Brooke smiled at her friend. The conversation they had all had over lunch the other day had really helped and she was glad everyone was finally starting to treat Rachel with respect.

"They are about to go on, though. I should head backstage and make sure everything is ok." Peyton continued and gave a final kiss to Lucas before she set off to find the band.

Rachel glanced over to the girl standing next to her and noticed the sad look on her face. She didn't know if it was because Peyton and Lucas didn't hide their relationship from her or if it was because she had to hide her own relationship from them. She figured it was a little bit of both, which worried the girl because she wanted Brooke to be over Lucas and more focused on her.

"I'm gonna go get something, you guys want anything?" Lucas asked nodding his head towards the bar area.

"No thanks, we'll be over there in a little bit, though." Brooke answered before Rachel even had the chance to respond. She grabbed the girl's hand and dragged her to the backstage area leaving Lucas standing there as confused as ever.

* * *

"What are you do..." But before Rachel could finish her sentence, Brooke's lips were firmly planted on her own.

"This." The brunette answered and started walking the girl backwards until she was stopped by the wall. Trapping Rachel's body against the wall with her own, Brooke slid a leg in between the redhead's causing the girl to let out a moan. "I've been rethinking this slow thing." She whispered as she trailed light kisses along Rachel's jaw line.

"Remember when I talked about stopping earlier?" Rachel barely got out.

"Yeah, but that was earlier and now I'm kinda tired of going slow." Brooke answered and slid her hand up Rachel's shirt, running her fingertips over the skin she found there.

Just as she was about to lean back in for another kiss, a stage hand walked past them and coughed. Being caught off guard, Brooke took a step back and ran a hand through her hair to steady herself.

"Don't worry. I don't think he knew us." Rachel said sarcastically as she rearranged her clothes.

"Rach, please..." Brooke pleaded. She wanted whatever they had to work, and she was getting frustrated that Rachel couldn't be patient and understand that her friends might not approve.

"I'm fine, Brooke. But this is why I want to go slow. I can't have sex with someone who can't even talk to her friends about us."

Brooke looked down at her feet sheepishly, "They just started to accept you again, Rachel. Do you really think they'd be ok with us dating?"

"They should be if they're as good as friends as you like to think." The redhead answered stepping forward and wrapping her arms around the other girl's waist. She leaned in and lightly kissed Brooke's forehead before stepping away and walking out of their hiding spot. "I'm gonna go find Skills, and I invited Blair so I should see if she's here. I'll go to yours after the show."

Before Brooke could protest, Rachel had turned and left leaving the girl alone to worry about where their relationship was headed.

* * *

The band had finished playing and, for the most part, everyone had enjoyed their music. Rachel had found Blair and Skills earlier in the night and had been hanging around the bar goofing off since. Brooke had gone back to stand with Peyton and Lucas to listen to the band perform but would steal occasional glances towards the three at the bar. It made her a little jealous that Rachel was off having fun without her, but she knew that it would probably be best to leave the girl alone until they were both back at the house later.

She knew that Rachel and Blair had grown closer in the past couple of weeks that they had been working together, even going as far as talking about moving in together. It had surprised Brooke when the redhead had first brought it up since it had seemed like her and Skills were having so much fun together. Now, looking over at the small group, Brooke watched as the girls threw their heads back in laughter at something Skills had said and found herself smiling along with them. She was about to walk over to join them when she saw a random man walk up and place his hand on Rachel's shoulder in an obvious attempt to flirt with the girl.

Dropping her shoulders and her smile, Brooke walked off to a darker part of the club to wait until everyone was ready to leave. It was a more secluded part of Tric, just to the left of the dance floor, that no one paid attention to, as they were too busy dancing or drinking at the bar.

Not wanting to see her semi-girlfriend flirt with some random guy, who in her eyes wasn't even that good looking, she turned and faced the wall, almost like she was in timeout. Anyone looking on would have thought it was a funny sight and might even wonder what she was doing, but no one bothered her. Not until she felt someone's arms slip around her waist from behind.

"What are you doing over here?" Rachel whispered into her ear, causing a shiver to run down her spine.

"Not watching you flirt with an ugly." Brooke answered, turning in the girl's arms.

Rachel let out a chuckle, "He's too busy hitting on Blair."

Brooke leaned in to where her head was resting just below the redhead's chin and mumbled into her chest, "You mean she wasn't too busy flirting with you?"

"Awe, Penelope. Green doesn't suit you. Want to go home?"

"Yes, please," and with that the two girls turned and left the club to go to Brooke's house, but neither one of them saw the look Lucas was giving them.

He had watched his ex-girlfriend walk to the other side of Tric to be alone and saw that Rachel had followed her. Thinking that Rachel was going over there to make sure her friend was ok, Lucas was surprised to see their embrace, but things were finally starting to make sense and he stored the information away to talk to Brooke about later.

* * *

"You're going to stay the night with me, right?" Brooke asked once the two had walked through the front door.

"Yeah. I guess I can." Rachel answered as she made her way into the front room.

"You don't have to. I just miss you being here," Brooke looked down at her feet, trying to hide the blush that was creeping up her cheeks.

The red head walked over and tipped the girl's head up until their eyes connected, "I'll stay, but no sex, and you have to promise you'll try and talk to them about us."

Brooke nodded slowly and tried to keep back the smile that was starting to form. She was excited that Rachel had agreed to stay the night, but she knew the girl was right. She needed to talk to her friends and explain things. It wasn't fair to Rachel to keep their relationship hidden.

"Let's go to bed," Rachel said before walking away from the brunette and heading up the stairs.

* * *

The next morning Rachel woke before the girl laying next to her and, not wanting to wake her, she slipped out of the bed and out the door to head back to her apartment. She didn't really want to sneak out on the girl, but she was still upset about things that had happened the night before. She didn't do relationships, never really had any interest in them, but Brooke had changed that, and it made her angry that it had to be a secret.

It was similar to what she went through with Cooper. She had to lie about a lot of things just to get that relationship started, and, in high school, it was all she thought she wanted. Now looking back, she knew that Cooper was just a school girl crush and regretted how crazy she had acted, smashing mirrors and driving limos off of bridges.

Now that she was older, she wanted the lying to stop. She didn't know much about relationships, but she did know that what her and Brooke were doing wasn't healthy. If it didn't change soon, Rachel had promised herself that she would end it, but in all honesty, she didn't think she would have the strength to do so.

Unlocking the front door, she walked into the apartment and caught Blair making herself a pot of coffee in the kitchen. Her blonde hair was tasseled around her head, the perfect example of bed head. She was wearing one of Skills' large t-shirts that went down to mid-thigh.

Sensing that the girl hadn't heard her enter the apartment, Rachel slammed the door and laughed as the blonde jumped back about three feet.

"You scared the hell out of me, Rachel!" Blair exclaimed after she had regained a bit of composure. "You're lucky I didn't spill this on myself. I probably would have killed you."

Rachel continued to laugh as she made her way further into the apartment. She laid her keys down on the table and walked over to where Blair stood next to the coffee pot and poured herself a cup. "Sorry, I couldn't help it. Skills go to work?"

"Yeah," Blair paused to take a sip of coffee. "He left a few minutes ago and said I could stick around if I wanted."

"So...how was it?"

The blonde quirked an eyebrow and smirked at the girl standing next to her. "I can only assume you're talking about sex with Skills," when she was met with a nod, she continued, "what makes you think we had sex?"

"Oh please. You're wearing his clothes and your hair screams, 'I just had sex'. Give me some credit."

"Ok, ok. It was good. Better than good, but I'm usually not like that."

Rachel laughed and walked to the couch to sit down, indicating with a nod of her head for Blair to follow, "Like what? Opening your legs for the first guy you meet?"

She laughed when Blair's hand connected with her arm in a stinging slap, "Bitch."

Rachel rubbed her arm trying to ease the stinging sensation that was still coursing over the spot Blair had hit her, "Don't worry about it, Blair. Skills is a good guy. He's not one of the ones that will never talk to you again."

Blair nodded and continued to nurse her cup of coffee, "I hope so. After you left, we got to talking more, and, I don't know, I really liked him."

"At least someone is getting some around here."

The blonde set the cup down on the table in front of the couch and situated herself so that she was facing the other girl more, "I thought you two were doing the slow thing?"

"I'm tired of the slow thing. I like sex, Blair, and I know I'd like sex with Brooke, but I refuse to sleep with someone who isn't comfortable with people knowing about us. I've done that enough. I just thought it'd be a little different with Brooke."

"You two have been dating for a couple of weeks, Rach. Give her a little bit of time to sort things out. I mean, Skills and I know, so she can't be all that uncomfortable with it."

Rachel glanced over to her friend and rolled her eyes, "You two know because you were smart enough to figure it out, not because she told you. There's a difference."

"Yeah, the difference is that Skills and I are smart, and the others aren't."

The two girls chuckled before settling into a silence and enjoying their coffee.


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: I'm glad you guys are still interested in this story. I have a week off from school next week, so I'm not sure if I'll be able to get an update in or not.**

Brooke woke not long after Rachel had left and quickly noticed the empty bed. She was upset and couldn't understand why Rachel would just leave without waking her. She thought it might have had something to do with the night before, but if the girl had been that upset with her, she wouldn't have insisted on coming home with her.

Not wanting to think about it and where their relationship may be headed, Brooke climbed out of bed and made her way to the bathroom. Yesterday had been a fun day, for the most part, but she had a lot of work to take care of today. Having just relinquished her rights to Clothes Over Bros, save for the lone shop in Tree Hill, she needed to come up with an all new line and ways to keep the money coming in.

After a quick shower, a small breakfast and minimal thoughts of a certain red head, Brooke walked into her store and greeted the girl behind the counter. There weren't many designs left on the racks, but Brooke figured the stock would do until she could come up with better ones, and as long as people were still buying them, then she would be fine.

She went to the back room for privacy, got out her sketch pad and went to work, but nothing great was coming to her. If there was such a thing as writer's block for designers, Brooke knew she had it. She played it off to just being too worried about Rachel, and decided to fix the situation before attempting to create any new designs.

She dug her cell phone out of her purse and hit talk, letting the phone dial the last number she had called, Rachel.

"Hello?" she heard on the other end of the line.

"Hey." Brooke responded with a small smile playing at her lips.

"Hey, back."

"I missed you this morning. How come you didn't wake me up?"

Rachel was quiet a few moments, the only thing Brooke could hear was the background noise at Tops and Bottoms until the other girl finally spoke up, "Isn't that what dirty little secrets do? Leave before they're told to leave."

"You aren't my dirty little secret, Rachel. I don't know how many times I have to tell you that."

"I guess until I believe it."

Brooke let out a sigh and ran a hand through her hair. This wasn't how she envisioned the conversation going, and she was fast becoming irritated. "Can you just meet me for lunch somewhere?"

"You can come out here. I doubt Blair will want to drive me back into to town."

"Fine, I'll be there in an hour or so."

The brunette let out another sigh as Rachel hung up, without so much as a bye.

* * *

The hour had passed, and Brooke was pulling into a parking spot in front of Tops and Bottoms. She quickly got out of the car and made her way into the bar to find Rachel serving two overweight men, with wandering eyes, their plates of food.

She rolled her eyes and found a table away form the men and sat back and watched the girl make her way around the room. The short shorts and small black wife beater didn't leave much to the imagination, and Brooke couldn't blame the men for running their eyes up and down the girl's body, as she, herself, was doing the exact same thing.

Rachel smirked from across the room as she caught the girl checking her out and called out to Blair, "I'm taking a lunch break."

"You have customers, Rachel," the girl responded from behind the bar as she filled up two glasses of beer for the red head to take to the mens' table.

"You met Skills through me, which led to a night of incredible sex. You can return the favor, now."

Rachel didn't give the other girl the chance to respond before she was making her way over to where Brooke sat. "Hey," she sad as she sat down across from the brunette.

"Hey, back," Brooke answered, copying Rachel from their earlier phone conversation.

"What do you want to eat?"

"Whatever they're having," Brooke nodded in the direction of the two men Rachel had just served moments before.

Rachel let out a chuckle and turned back towards the other girl, "I don't think you want that. Maybe just a burger."

"Why do you even have to work during the day, anyway? Isn't this a bar?"

"Yeah, but it's a restaurant, too."

Rachel got up to go place the order in the kitchen without making sure a burger was what the girl actually wanted. When she returned, she saw that Brooke had her arms crossed and a pout firmly planted on her face.

"So, this little lunch date was your idea. What do you want?" she asked as she sat back down in her chair.

"I want the girl from yesterday back. You know, the one who was nice and sweet, and who wouldn't leave their girlfriend without waking her up," Brooke responded, caught off guard with how rude Rachel was being.

"Girlfriend? Is that what I am?"

"Maybe I'd like you to be if you'd stop being such a bitch."

Rachel leaned forward, placing her elbows on the table, and stared hard at the brunette, "Brooke, you and I aren't together. How could we be when you can't tell anyone about us?"

"I'm telling them tonight."

Rachel wasn't expecting the girl to answer with that and was just a bit shocked. She had started to come to the conclusion that Brooke never would get around to telling her friends, but with her sitting there saying she would do it that night, Rachel wasn't so sure.

"Yeah? Then you can do it here. I'm here till close."

"You have to work all night, too?" Brooke asked, upset that she wouldn't be able to see the girl at all for the rest of the day.

"I picked up someone's shift, and I could use the money."

The brunette nodded, but she still wasn't too thrilled about it. She was nervous as is, but having to tell her friends that she was dating someone that none of them really liked in a crowded bar with that said someone breathing down her neck made it that much more nerve wracking.

She didn't respond with anything more, though. Instead, she watched as Blair walked over carrying their food. The two ate in silence, and Brooke couldn't help but think that no progress had been made.

* * *

The rest of the day had passed by far too quickly for Brooke's liking. She had already called and made plans with Lucas, Peyton, Nathan and Haley, telling them to meet her at Tops and Bottoms around eight. Haley had been a little hesitant, but, with the urging of her husband, she had finally agreed.

Now, it was 7:30, and Brooke was sitting in her car, back in front of the bar. She had run over countless ways to tell her friends, but as soon as she had pulled into the parking lot, they had disappeared.

Finally gaining enough courage to get out of the vehicle, Brooke walked into the building and quickly scanned the area looking for anyone she might know. She saw Peyton standing by the bar ordering a drink from Rachel and couldn't help but smile. She was still upset with the girl and how she had been acting earlier, but she had to admit that she looked good behind the counter serving drinks.

Rachel looked across the bar and caught Brooke staring at her. She returned the smile and waved her hand in a gesture that indicated she wanted Brooke to join them. The brunette fought her way through the crowd, more than slightly annoyed with the number of people packed inside the building. Once she made it to the bar, though, the annoyance disappeared as she saw Rachel's smile grow wider.

The girl was obviously excited about Brooke coming clean about their relationship, and her previous bad mood was all but forgotten.

"Want something to drink?" the red head had to yell over the music.

"No, thanks. I should probably stay sober tonight."

Rachel nodded and gave one last smile before heading to the other end of the bar to take the orders of people waiting.

"Where's everyone else?" Brooke asked the blonde sitting on a stool next to her.

"They have a table in the back. I was just keeping Rachel company until you got here," Peyton answered before stepping down from the stool and leading Brooke to the table she was talking about.

Nathan, Haley and Lucas were huddled together on one side of the booth, in what appeared to be a deep conversation.

"No, I'm telling you, they're all dead," Lucas was saying to Haley, who just rolled her eyes.

"Please, Lucas. That was all but denied. Do you even watch the show anymore?"

"What are they talking about?" Brooke asked Peyton as the two slid into the other side of the booth.

"Lost. They've been talking about it since we got here."

"Oh. That show still comes on?"

Peyton nodded her head before turning back to the bickering friends across the table and cleared her throat in an attempt to gain the two's attention.

"Can you two nerds just come to a truce already? It's not like we're dealing with, 'Who killed Laura Palmer'."

"Don't even get me started on BOB," Haley snapped at Peyton after temporarily forgetting that it was Lucas she was arguing with.

The rest of the table just stared, mouths open, at the girl, shocked by her sudden outburst.

"Anyway..." Brooke began after a few seconds of stunned silence, "believe it or not, I didn't call you all here to discuss television conspiracy theories because, let's face it, if we were going to do that, we'd be talking about Friends and why Joey and Rachel were never given a real shot."

"Because everyone knows that Ross and Rachel were endgame," Nathan finally spoke up, earning his share of surprised stares.

"Uh...back to what you were saying, Brooke. Before nancy boy here got all emotional," Lucas said with a laugh.

"Right. Ok, so I asked you guys to meet me here because I need to talk to you about something. Something about Rachel," she paused and looked around the table, gauging her friends expressions. When she received nods to continue, she took a deep breath and started, "The thing is...We're kinda...I mean...we both think that we could all spend a little more time together."

Brooke sighed, angry with herself that she couldn't just tell her friends why she had really called them.

"You mean this isn't about you and Rachel being extra friendly to each other, lately?" Lucas asked. The other four, including Brooke, looked at him with confused looks on their faces, causing the boy to continue, "It's just that you two have been giving off this vibe. That maybe you're more than just friends."

"What?" Brooke squeaked out. "What gave you that idea?"

And, just as she asked the question, Skills and Blair had walked over to the table after spotting them from the bar. They stood beside the table trying to catch up on the part of the conversation they had missed, but they both figured out what it was about pretty quickly.

"So you two aren't dating?"

All eyes were on the brunette. Two pairs wondering if she would tell the truth, and the rest wondering what the hell Lucas was talking about. None of them noticed the extra set that had joined them, except for Blair, but by then, it was too late.

"Of course we aren't dating. Look, Rachel is my best friend, but that's as far as it goes."

Blair cleared her throat, pulling everyone's attention to her and the red head that stood just behind her, and Brooke looked on in horror as the girl stepped forward.

"I was just checking if you guys needed anything to drink, but it looks like you're all set," she said, even though there were empty glasses on the table.

As she turned around and walked back to the bar, Blair glared down at the brunette she barely knew and rolled her eyes. The blonde left Skills standing there, giving some excuse about seeing if Rachel needed any help at the bar.

Brooke looked away and stared down at the table, hopping that what had just happened was just a dream, but as soon as she heard Nathan speak, she knew she wasn't that lucky.

"Talk about weird. Since when did Brooke become gay, Lucas?"

"I didn't say she was gay. I just thought something was going on with the two of you. I'm sorry, Brooke."

Peyton looked at Lucas and shook her head, "That's the problem with guys. They see two girls be friendly to each other and they automatically think they're having sex. Is that what you guys thought of me and Brooke?"

"Not until you just mentioned it," Nathan laughed, but quickly stopped once he received a glare from his wife.

"You're right, though, Brooke. We do need to spend more time together, and we'll make an honest effort to do so."

Throughout the entire exchange, Brooke and Skills had remained silent, but Skills finally spoke up, "Funny how I didn't get an invite to this conversation about spending more time together. I wonder why that is, Brooke."

The girl in question finally looked up from the table, tears in her eyes that she made sure she didn't let fall. No one else noticed but Skills, but he couldn't be bothered with it. Instead of asking if she was OK, he turned and looked for Blair in the crowd.

The rest of the group just watched on as the man retreated into the throng of people, still just as confused as ever.

* * *

He had made it to where Blair stood with Rachel, who was just standing behind the bar with a blank look on her face as people shouted their orders at her.

"Is she OK?" Skills asked the blonde.

"I don't know. She won't talk, so I guess that answers the question."

Rachel finally snapped out of her trance and looked at Blair, and then Skills. A strangled chuckle escaped her throat as she shook her head and turned to look at the table she had just walked away from. She caught the eyes of Brooke, and another forced laugh came out.

"You know what's funny? I've known Brooke for years, and there's always been this kind of energy between us. You've known each other, what, a few days, and you're already sleeping together and comfortable with each other. Just goes to show that I'm the slut everyone is embarrassed by."

"Rachel, no. That isn't true," the man started before he was interrupted by the red head.

"Save it. Blair, will you please cover the rest of my shift?"

The blonde nodded and watched as Rachel walked around the bar and head towards the exit. Brooke looked on, too, and got up from the booth and zig zagged her way through the dance floor until she was face to face with Skills, who stopped her from going any further.

"Leave it alone, Brooke."

"I need to talk to her."

"No, you needed to tell them what's really goin' on with the two of you, but you didn't. Now, you need to leave it alone."

Brooke sighed and let the anger wash over her. Angry with the environment she was in, with the music that was too loud and the sweaty people grinding against each other, angry with her friends for being so intimidating and, most importantly, angry with herself for not having the courage to face them and possibly ruining any chance her and Rachel might have had.

Skills saw the different emotions flash across the girl's face, but he couldn't bring himself to care. She had hurt one of his friends, who, granted, he hadn't been that close to until recently, but was now learning what a great person she was. If there was one thing the man couldn't stand, it was injustice, and he knew Rachel didn't deserve what had just happened.

"Go back to the table and enjoy the rest of your night. I'll find Rachel and make sure she's OK. Something tells me she won't want to see you for awhile."

All Brooke could do was nod and turn back to her friends who appeared to have gotten over the awkward situation that had just played out in front of them.

* * *

Skills didn't have to go too far to find the red head. She was sitting on the hood of some random car, and without even really thinking about it, he found himself sitting there as well.

"I'm not going to apologize for her," he said without looking at her.

"There wouldn't be anything to apologize for. She's right, we're just friends."

"Don't give me that. I've seen you two together, and the way she looks at you. I guess she's just scared of what it all means."

"So I need to gather everyone around a beach and give some lame line about how I'm the girl for her so that she won't be scared anymore? I just wanted half the chance she gave Lucas."

Skills finally looked at the girl and took in how defeated she looked, "I think she's gonna end up giving you more than just half a chance."

He was trying his best to cheer the girl up, but from the looks of it, he was failing. He didn't know much about the girl's dealings with drugs but knew that something like this could easily send her into a relapse, and that was something he didn't want to see.

"You really think I still want it? No, we're friends, and I'm going to continue to be her for her, but that's as far as it goes."

All Skills could do was nod and wrap his arm around the girl's shoulders to bring her in for a hug. She leaned into it, but other than that, she was unresponsive, and it worried they boy.

"Can you just take me home?" she whispered just loud enough for him to hear over the thumping beat coming from inside.

"Yeah. Come on," he answered as he helped her down from the car and led her to his own parked not far away.


End file.
